While much of South Africa went into Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, the GO! & Express news team continued to print and distribute hyperlocal news to the East London community.
This was according to Matthew Field, editor-in-chief of the GO! & Express, which is an Arena Holdings publication. Field told MatieMedia that the newspaper had to adapt quickly to the new normal under lockdown, and the challenges that emerged during this time. The GO! & Express is distributed in East London, as well as the surrounding areas, he said.
The impact of Covid-19 on the publication
Once lockdown started, the newspaper “got hit hard” by the loss in advertising revenue, as local businesses were not able to spend the same amount on advertising during lockdown, said Field.
The GO! & Express was able to continue printing newspapers during the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, print remained the main vehicle of communication with audiences during the pandemic, despite the paper having an online platform as well. PHOTO: Supplied/Matthew Field
“From a business perspective, we relied on essential services for advertising,” said Chris van Heerden, product manager of the GO! & Express. “Our publication has no cover price, and is distributed door-to-door and through bulk drops at retailers,” he explained. Bulk distribution and home drop-offs remained consistent during the lockdown period, occurring weekly on Mondays and Thursdays, according to Field. According to the publication’s website, it currently has a circulation of 42 900.
As businesses in the community are only starting to recover now, the publication is only just starting to recover its losses from during the lockdown period, according to Field. The newspaper shrunk in page numbers due to the decrease in advertising, as “the number of ads determines the number of pages we go to”, said Field.
“We were identified as essential providers – hence, we could operate during lockdown,” said Field. However, “we couldn’t go out and meet people anymore. We were forced to communicate almost exclusively over telephone and email,” he added.
Travelling restrictions meant that it became more difficult to cover and distribute to township areas, resulting in more focus on news from the city and suburbs, according to Field. “The lockdown period brought limitations on the sort of news stories the newspaper was able to cover,” he said.
Matthew Field, editor-in-chief of the GO! & Express, explains the impact of the pandemic on the editorial team and freelance writers for the publication.
The importance of hyperlocal news
People appreciate community news, as it covers local stories that national newspapers usually overlook or ignore, said Field.
“Having a community focus, means that old age homes such as ours get media coverage, and we get to see our own issues represented in the media,” said Abigail Oliphant, a local community member who works at the DJ Sobey Old Age Home.
The local community still prefers print media to online platforms, according to Field. “People still want to hold a physical newspaper…and much like Kindle didn’t kill off books completely, I don’t think online will completely kill off print news. But they do need to find a way to co-exist,” he said.
Local readers of the publication confirmed the appeal of local news. “I mostly engage with local news when it is delivered once a week, […] as I think that it is important to be informed about what is going on in the community around us,” said Debby Beetless, a local reader of the GO! & Express.