Watch out Sunday Times, here comes Haffajee!

April 29th, 2009

Ferial Haffajee surprised most people when she announced - rather precipitously - that she was abandoning the Mail & Guardian editorship for City Press. It was a big shift for her, and an even bigger one for City Press.

It signals a push at City Press to take on the Sunday Times as number one in the Sunday market. It comes from the very top, I hear - Naspers chief executive Koos Bekker wants it to be the biggest newspaper and not just the voice of the black elite, as it is positioned now. When Bekker backs a project, he does it seriously, so expect the group to throw money, resources and their brains trust at this project.

The Sunday Times, however, is a formidable machine, and will not easily be displaced from its perch. It is a veritable money-machine, with profit margins which must be among the best in the newspaper world. However, it has been hit - like everyone - by the recession and its circulation has been looking weak, propped up largely by give-aways. Internally, it is chaotic - as shown by the independent review which I participated in last year, and which has been largely ignored by them. What the report made clear is that the paper will be vulnerable if it does not fix some obvious problems.

Its daily and online ventures, The Times and Times Online, have made progress in the last year, but must still be draining the coffers, particularly at this difficult time.

On the other hand, Haffajee faces a formidable challenge. City Press was strongly positioned by former editor Mathatha Tsedu as the Africanist voice of the black elite, and it became a must-read with some of the most interesting political coverage in the country. Tsedu was close to Mbeki. Tsedu moved on, and his replacement, Khathu Mamaila, is to move to management.

To go for the wider, family-based, cross-racial audience of the Sunday Times requires a complete turnaround in newsroom culture, make-up and practice. Haffajee might also walk into a wall of hostility, as an outsider who has to manage a number of seniors overlooked for the post. She is going to have to turn the place on its head, and bring in a number of new people.

City Press had been after Haffajee for about six months, with her consistently brushing off their approaches. She changed her mind in the midst of difficult cutbacks at the M&G. Ironically, she announced she was leaving in a City Press article, which speculated that she might be up for a big job at the SABC. Little did they know …

Haffajee is giving up a position at a small company with a very different corporate culture to City Press, which is a Media24 company, part of Naspers, by far this country’s biggest media player. From a big cog in a small machine, she is going to be a medium-sized cog in a giant machine. A big change.

The Sunday Times is a giant brand with valuable sub-brands, each aimed at different market segments. It is designed so that different family members can pull out different sections aimed at them: business, sport, lifestyle, television, etc. Each of these have been built up and nurtured over time. City Press is a long way away from this, with a much cruder and simpler make-up.

All of which makes for a fascinating battle of the Sundays.

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Print