Changing the face of business

Both were launched to the media and stakeholders recently in Johannesburg at the Venue in Melrose Arch.

The site, www.businesslive.co.za, incorporates Business Day, Financial Mail, Business Times, Investors Monthly, Rand Daily Mail, BDTV and Wanted Online, as well as exclusive syndicated content from the Financial Times, access to the Morningstar financial tools and data platform, and full access to the The Wall Street Journal website WSJ.com, via the paid-content section of the site, BL Premium.

The majority of content on BusinessLIVE will remain free, while the best comment, opinion and analysis writing from Times Media’s titles will be placed in the paid-content section of the site, BL Premium. The BL Premium will also house the exclusive content from FT.com, Morningstar and WSJ.com. Ray Hartley, former Sunday Times and RDM.co.za editor, will edit BusinessLIVE.

For more than half a century Business Day has delivered content, the best analysis and insights. The philosophy of providing the best content has not changed and is the driver of the new site.

The launch of BusinessLIVE also coincides with the redesign of the Business Day and Financial Mail newspapers. This follows research as well as international trends, which show that newspapers have been neglected in terms of design. Apart from this their audiences have also changed and their tastes need to be considered. The format will be a highly engaging one and will celebrate the power of print.

Editorially a less is more approach, with less recycled news and more scoops, a less of the "what" and more of the "why", will be followed.

The BusinessLIVE site itself is a super site that can be entered via various points and has a responsive design with embedded video and links etc. to bring the articles to life. Already the one product on the site WANTED has won an award.

This, together with the launch of BusinessLIVE, demonstrates that Times Media is not a newspaper company, but a multimedia company. These business publications attract a high end audience because they offer in-depth coverage and are a leading authority on business. This is a 360-degree multimedia approach that is a platform for audiences and advertisers alike.

The guest of honour at the event was deputy chairman of the Rothschild global advisory and previous Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel. Much of his address regarding the leadership in the country has been quoted on various news platforms.

Manual called on South Africans to examine who they really are. “Less than a generation has passed and we have descended as a nation held up by the world as a hero to what we have become. It is the responsibility of each of us to have the conversation of who are and ought to be. My fear is that the state is becoming increasingly corrupt. We need to rein against it.”

He spoke of the media’s role in this and that media needs to be held accountable and responsible for its action and therefore need to be less reliant on sources. “We live in an era where people draw up a package they sell to the media. What if these sources are lying? Professional media need to be more vigilant when these neat packages arrive on their desk.”

This is important, he says, because the role of the media is not insignificant. “Freedom is the right to disagree with the state and media must assist in our national conversation of who we are.”