The Sunday broadsheet market is hotting up, with both Naspers’s Media24 and Independent Newspapers making aggressive plays for more market share. Media24 now has Ferial Haffajee, the highly regarded former Mail & Guardian editor, at the helm of City Press – and the paper is moving upmarket – while there is a definite change in the wind at Independent Newspapers. Not only does the Sunday Independent have a fulltime editor and deputy editor for the first time in many years but the company has also invested in a group investigative unit and an in-house training unit for young journalists. Last week I spoke to Haffajee and Makhudu Sefara, who took over as Sunday Independent editor five months ago. Here is an edited transcripts of the interview with Sefara:

Click here to go to the interview with Ferial Haffajee.

Click here to go to my Moneyweb column, which this week is about the battle of the Sunday broadsheets.

QUESTION: The Sunday Independent has been the poor step-sister at Independent Newspapers for some time. What did you find when you walked in the door as editor? (Previously Sefara was at City Press and Independent Newspapers.)

Makhudu Sefara

ANSWER: There weren’t many people. The paper had survived on group contributions (from other Independent newspapers and from cross-title units such as the political desk) but we’ve tried to turn things around and propel the paper in a different direction. We are now joined by Mpumelelo Mkhabela from the Sunday Times as the deputy editor and we’ll be getting other new people very soon. We’re putting out the ads… There are great plans to pay much more attention to the title.
The past five months have been quite gruelling… but we’ve seen the numbers increasing. In September last year, our total sales were about 31 000 and going down. We’ve now managed to stop that decline and not only that but to get 4000 new readers since then and the graph is pointing upwards.
I think that’s what it makes it worthwhile… it’s not that this is difficult but it requires quite a lot of time that you don’t always have to deal with the many things that require your attention.
But you see the response that we have received, and you can stop and say: ‘Ja, it’s really worth the fight. Let’s keep on going back there and trying to improve and change things here and there and look at what we don’t provide and how we can accommodate it in the title, where we can get the resources to provide new items’ … Of course, it’s a constant struggle, to look at what works and what doesn’t work, what must be retained and what must be thrown out the window. And if you’re throwing it out, how many readers are going out with it. If you’re introducing something new, to how many people is this going to be relevant. It’s a constant to and fro.
But so far it’s looking good and we’re hoping to maintain the momentum… towards the end of the year, we should be chasing 40 000 to 45 000 (sales).

QUESTION: When the Sunday Independent was started, The Sunday Times had a very clear proposition in that it was the agenda setter of the country and you went to the Independent for the extra stuff – the analysis and the good international copy. Are you guys sticking with this traditional Sunday Independent role when the Sunday Times is no longer consistently setting the news agenda?
ANSWER: I don’t think we need to surrender the battle to set the agenda to the Sunday Times – and to others. What I think we should do is to use whatever resources we can muster on the front page to set our agenda. If you look at the stories we did, for instance, Nathi Mthethwa’s deal and the hotel in Durban, those stories have set the agenda. I’ve gone on a number of radio stations and those stories have continued for a number of days – if not weeks, to be followed up daily papers.
Traditionally, the Sunday Times published their lead and on Monday everyone was following up. They still continue to try to do that but my view is that they are not consistent. There are times when they get a good story like the Jacob Zuma “Babygate” story and the Jacob Maroga R85-million. But if you look at how anybody with resources could have got the Jacob Maroga piece, it’s easy stuff – it’s not something that you can say that only the Sunday Times should do. So we’re going to try to do that.

QUESTION: But do you have enough staff to do that?
ANSWER: I think our (cross-title) politics team is actually the strongest in the country. It has about eight people and politics, for us, has become the mainstay of the paper. So we’re looking at politics, investigations and news breaks on the front page… I’m also very keen on education and health as those are minefields that are not explored properly so when we get more people (at the paper), we’re going direct them into those areas… I’m quite certain there are many stories that are untold, both about the hardships that people experience and the corruption involved in multibillion tenders.
The challenge is to be able to do that and retain the quality analysis of our own national politics and the geo-politics, for example, what’s happening in Greece at the moment.

QUESTION: The Sunday broadsheet market has got so interesting this year, with Ferial Haffajee now at City Press and taking steps to reposition the paper. What do you make it of it?
ANSWER: The paper that (previous City Press editor) Mathatha (Tsedu) put out was a distinctly African newspaper. The paper that Ferial is putting out is a paper that is trying to balance a mix of races. It’s a tough task that she has because she’s trying to downplay politics and introduce new elements. The paper Mathatha produced was by comparison heavy with very few light pieces – and it worked to an extent as the sales went up to about 200 000 but then it stopped growing.
If you’re Ferial, you want to attract mainly people who are reading the Sunday Times to increase your numbers. You need to be mindful not to lose the 200 000 people who are already buying your paper. It’s a balancing act of sorts, an egg dance. It’s a tough task but a very interesting one.
And, if you’re Mondli at the Sunday Times, for example, and looking at what Ferial is doing and what we’re doing at the Sunday Independent – even though we’re coming in with only 31 000 to 35 000 and still counting – you want to ask yourself, if you’re at 500 000 (sales), do you want to increase or maintain this? Are there things that you need to do that you think Ferial is going to do to try to steal readers from you or is City Press going to appeal to other people who not reading the Sunday Times?
So it means Mondli must check constantly what City Press is doing and what we are doing and I’m saying (for the Sunday Independent) that it has not been a year yet. Give us till the end of this year and, hopefully, given the resources that we will get, we will be an entirely different ball game. The paper that we will be putting out will be both setting the agenda and offering readers in-depth analysis on both local and international news in a way that nobody else is going to be able to do.

GILL MOODIE: There is obviously a decision by Independent Newspaper to invest in the paper?
MAKHUDU SEFARA: Ja, for the first time in a long time we now have a fulltime editor and deputy focused on the paper from Tuesday to Saturday – though it feels like from Tuesday to Tuesday — and we will be getting new people and things should improve. It is already much better now than a year ago in terms of staffing.

QUESTION: Last year was a horrendous year for everyone in terms of advertising. How are things are looking for Sunday Independent this year?
ANSWER: This is an interesting story. When the Sunday Independent was founded, the model was to have the paper sustain itself on the cover price,… (The paper cost R12.50 in the third quarter of last year) that it should be able to recoup production costs. As a result they did not employ someone to look after advertising for the paper and when the paper failed to sell the number of copies envisaged, that created problems. It needed to subsidised.
But effective last month, we have now employed someone to look at advertising specifically for the paper. And it is already looking good… She said last week that she had already made her target for this month. So we’re beginning to see the first sun rays to give us hope that this thing can be turned around if you pay particular attention to it… I’m quite confident that in quite a short space of time we will be able to announce that the paper is now viable.

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