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Other articles in the RAP 21 Newsletter n° 81/2002:
The Business of Newspapers
Contributing to journalism at home while in exile
Newsletter n° 81
THE BUSINESS OF NEWSPAPERS PRINTING & DISTRIBUTION

Re-launching a newspaper with a better distribution system

"We have the interest to make the ’bird’ take off again. To do so, we are considering a new distribution policy."

The newspaper, before its suspension, was distributed in nine African countries: a source of pride for the newspaper, a certain trump card for its credibility, but also a source of difficulties from the management’s point of view. "Le Marabout is an international publication. But its publisher is a small association (RALI, African network for the the freedom to inform) based on voluntary help, with little means, so it has a weak commercial strike force. To distribute from Ouagadougou, we had to sign contracts with eight different distributors and work from a distance. These companies took advantage of it; none of them gave complete statistics on sales, even for the first copy (October 2001). Except for the Gabonese distributor, none paid the slightest CFA franc, breaking the rules they had fixed themselves," says Mr Glez.

The distribution system should be totally rethought, he says, and the team of Le Marabout is thinking of three solutions.

First, the paper hopes to bank on its international fame and find a distributor in Europe to "take advantage of the unique network of an international distribution system and its seriousness," says Mr Glez who asserts that the newspaper will continue to be conceived in Africa. "It remains to be seen if it is more interesting to print in Ouagadougou or in Europe," he says.

The second envisaged solution, says Mr Glez, is "to set up an alternative distribution system, via associations for example, with a greater effort on subscriptions’ promotion." The partnership with associations will be all the more easy to establish, he says, as Le Marabout is a monthly magazine. The periodicity can allow more time to build real projects.

The third solution regarding distribution, says Mr Glez, is to "work in narrow collaboration with a friend-title in every country, as Le Marabout can be distributed, for example, as the special issue of publications that are coherent with our editorial line and capable of putting the pressure on distributors".
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