End of the road for The Weekender

The last issue's front page...click to enlarge

“It is sad indeed. This is unexpected and a bit hard to swallow,” accountant Linda Mthembu said, after buying her last copy of the paper on Saturday. This is like a TV drama - in this episode you are enjoying the character's performance and in the next episode you see it disappear, just like that, no warning.”

Personal assistant Esther Moshwane said: “I didn't really like its contents, which I believe was too intellectual and didn't appeal to an ordinary person like me. I just read it because my boss was one of its subscribers.”

Always a bit of a risk

Lesley Cowling, senior lecturer at Wits University's School of Journalism, said the closure of The Weekender is sad for those who enjoy a more reflective quality read and a culture-driven publication.

“However, the newspaper was always a bit of a risky business, as quality media for the educated and literate South Africans has always had difficulty surviving. I think that the demise of the newspaper is also a loss for non-fiction writers, as this was one paper that would publish longer and more creative pieces.”

William Bird, head of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), said: “Their target was upmarket, intelligent readers. Maybe, the content played a role - in the sense that it didn't appeal to almost everyone.

BD also lost advertising

“The limited market wasn't even the problem. I think it had more to do with distribution issues and convincing advertisers of its value. Its sister paper Business Day has also lost a huge amount of advertising, so in that context its closure isn't that surprising.”

Southern Africa Report publisher and veteran editor Raymond Louw said: “It is indeed sad to see any newspaper closing but especially so with The Weekender which tried to cater for an upmarket audience with quality material.

“It was providing material that was not readily available in other publications, and we will all be the poorer for the hole that its closing leaves.”

Louw added: “It is difficult to explain it, but there is no doubt that the recession was a serious blow and inhibited its chances of growing. When I was editor of the Rand Daily Mail we were aware that our Saturday edition attracted a much lower volume of advertising compared to the other days' editions.

“We tried to create an upmarket aura by running more thoughtful material including the results of our investigative journalism but it did not have much impact on sales or in attracting advertising.

Not on Saturdays

“There appears to be a no-no approach by advertisers to Saturday advertising. The cover price of R12.50 (nearly double that of the Saturday Star, nearly three times higher than The Citizen, though well under the Mail & Guardian's R19.50) may have put some people off, but not when compared to the Mail & Guardian.

“It reached a circulation of 15 000 well below that of the Mail & Guardian. I wonder whether if it lived up to its name and came out about midday on Friday it would have done better.”

But, figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show that The Weekender grew by 10.69% in the second quarter of 2009, and was the best year-on-year performer (over 15%) in the third quarter of 2008.

Team devastated

A statement issued late last week said: “The board of BDFM Publishers has decided, with regret, to cease publishing The Weekender newspaper, due to what it feels are insurmountable financial difficulties occasioned by the ongoing economic crisis in South Africa and the rest of the world. The final edition will appear tomorrow, Saturday November 7.”

Publisher Karen Bonsall said yesterday: “The only way to describe the feelings of The Weekender team is that we are devastated. We believe it was the best weekend read and our loyal subscribers, readers, contributors and staff have already shown their feelings for the paper through the many positive emails and calls received this weekend!

“It is extremely painful winding down this special paper, produced since March 2006 by a professional and enthusiastic team, and BDFM is making every effort to redeploy the staff. Discussions in this regard begin this week.”

Bonsall added: “We thank everyone who contributed to making The Weekender a fine product and an intelligent and interesting read.

“The process of winding down the publication will obviously involve dealing with readers who have already paid their subscriptions. In the first instance, subscribers should contact me at or call BDFM managing director, Mzi Malunga, on +27 (0)11 280 3512.”

For more:

• Bizcommunity.com: The weakness of The Weekender
  
• Bizcommunity.com editorial column: A bad, sad weekend
  
• Google News Search: "The Weekender"
  
• Twitter Search: "The Weekender"