Caxton targets Soweto with community newspapers

Caxton plans to produce at least four Urban News papers by December 2005 and eight by the end of 2006.

Gill Randall, Joint Managing Director of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau says, "Soweto is expanding economically and socially at a fantastic rate with the imminent opening of Protea's shopping mall and Diepkloof's Mall soon afterward. All signs point to the fact that Soweto is the newest upcoming hub of development in Gauteng, and bringing localised community papers targeted to Soweto was the next logical step for us.

"All dynamics are now in place, i.e., the existence of affluent, developing suburbs each soon to have their own shopping centres relying on local catchment areas to attract its customer base. Editorial covering relevant suburban news now becomes important to the residents of these communities. Each Urban News community paper will be localised to a specific area in Soweto, we believe that the time is right for us to expand the community newspaper model to these areas."

Managing Editor, Kevin Keogh adds, "For national advertisers, this will ultimately provide critical mass coverage, while simultaneously providing each newspaper a local flavour which will be reinforced by judicious advertising and focused editorial specific to that community, catering to the needs of advertisers and readers alike."

Caxton will provide training to ultimately equip members of the community to sell, write, produce and manage the newspapers it launches in their own areas, in Soweto.