The tension between market and community the Eastern Cape as a case study of community newspapers

The following study takes a look at the tension between market and community, and investigates the Eastern Cape as a case study. The main objective of the study was to determine what phenomenon is causing the rapid expansion of the community newspaper market. After a brief introduction the first section of chapter one goes about explaining South African newspapers. This was an important process because it helps the reader to understand the South African market. This market had a unique development, the study examines this, and goes on to show the three different spheres of the South African press and takes a look at the major publishers. Section two places the South African media market in context by looking at where newspapers fit into capitalist free market society. This section first develops the notion of democracy and its close relationship to capitalism. This is followed by a look at newspapers as commercial products, and also takes a look at a section of the South African population that is relatively easy for advertisers and marketers to target. This section finally offers a solution to combat the above inadequacies in society. Section three looks at the all important rise of more recent forms of media and the effects they have had on the press. This section first looks at how newspapers have been able to adapt and survive and secondly looks to their future survival in what is becoming a digital age. Chapter two begins by developing the notion of community. It establishes that while the world was heading in the direction of a global community, there has now been a recent trend for people to revert back to local community life in order to combat the inequalities of the global community. The second section of chapter two goes on to give an in-depth description of what community newspapers entail. Chapter three forms the first section of the second half of the study. It deals with Johnnic Communications (Johncom) and takes a look at the company by looking at their history and structures as well as results. It goes on to determine Johncom’s role in the South African media market, which includes publishing interests, BEE credentials, strategic positioning and the establishing of Johncom Community Newspapers (JCN). The final chapter looks at JCN and community newspapers in the Eastern Cape. The first section of this chapter looks at how JCN developed their titles as well as the success these titles have brought. The second section takes an overview look at all the titles in an attempt to find a common denominator that can be attributed to their success. This common denominator is determined to be disposable income. The third section looks at what makes disposable income one of the key factors in the success of community newspapers and uses the appendix interview to support its findings. The final section of this chapter and the entire study looks towards the future. It is a speculation into the future of both community newspapers and Johncom’s projected community newspaper expansion. It looks at other markets in South Africa, but once these become saturated it is expected that a massive African expansion will follow