Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

A small publisher gets technology
to do <strong>the</strong> work
By Anton van Zyl
Anton van Zyl is <strong>the</strong> owner/manager
of Zoutnet CC, a company based in
South Africa’s Limpopo province and
which publishes <strong>the</strong> award-winning
Limpopo Mirror and Zoutpansberger
newspapers. He is a director and
founder member of <strong>the</strong> Association
of Independent Publishers (AIP) and
vice-chairperson of <strong>the</strong> advertising
co-operative Capro (Pty) Ltd.
106 | Media in Africa - 2011
Press freedom is an idealistic approach
that looks good on paper….
Well, yes. Most of us can’t agree
more. The problem comes in with
<strong>the</strong> paper. Who pays <strong>the</strong> paper and
printing bills and who makes sure it
gets delivered to thousands of readers?
Press freedom is inevitably linked
to <strong>the</strong> newspaper owner and manager’s
ability to survive in a tough
economy. This is even more difficult
if you are a small community-based
paper without <strong>the</strong> safety net of a
big national bro<strong>the</strong>r. In order to survive
you have to adapt, be creative
and find solutions even before <strong>the</strong>
bigger competitors realise <strong>the</strong>re are
problems.
In <strong>the</strong> case of Zoutnet, publisher of
<strong>the</strong> Limpopo Mirror and Zoutpansberger
newspapers, one means of
survival lies in <strong>the</strong> innovative use of
technology. The two newspapers are
circulated in <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn parts of
Limpopo, in probably one of South
Africa’s poorest regions.
When I took over <strong>the</strong> two titles in
2000, I realised efficiency was crucial
to survival in a small, price-sensitive
economy. Low profit margins and
a quality product seldom go hand
in hand but I was not willing to
sacrifice on content. The only way
I could afford a skilled and creative
team was by cutting down on any
wastage and ensuring a process that
was streamlined to minimise errors.
You need a bit of luck in life and
often assistance comes via strange
routes. It started off with me (<strong>the</strong>n
still <strong>the</strong> news editor) realising <strong>the</strong>
need for an online presence back
in 1997. Seeing <strong>the</strong>re were no
web design experts in <strong>the</strong> region, I
decided to tackle it on my own. A
few dummy’s guides and a software
programme later, <strong>the</strong> newspaper’s
first website appeared.
“Press freedom is an
idealistic approach
that looks good on
paper…”
When I became owner and manager
of <strong>the</strong> publishing company a few
<strong>years</strong> later, I realised that I had
very little time at hand to spend
updating and working on “luxuries”
such as a website that didn’t bring
in any revenue. The solution arrived
in 2003 when a young developer
introduced himself. He was keen
on doing websites, even though he
had little experience. I decided to
give him a chance and <strong>the</strong> dummy’s
guides found a new home.
A couple of months later <strong>the</strong> website
was finished and it immediately
impacted on <strong>the</strong> way <strong>the</strong> newsrooms
functioned. Because it was
database-driven, much more information
could be derived from <strong>the</strong>
site. Editors could keep track of <strong>the</strong>