The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis,

investigative reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number ...

n news, local arts, music and popular culture. It is considered a newspaper of record for South Africa.

History

The publication began as the ''Weekly Mail'', an alternative newspaper by a group of

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s in 1985 after the closure of two leading liberal newspapers, ''

The Rand Daily Mail ''The Rand Daily Mail'' was a South African newspaper published from 1902 until it was controversially closed in 1985 after adopting an outspoken anti-apartheid stance in the midst of a massive clampdown on activists by the security forces. The ...

'' and ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

''. ''Weekly Mail'' was one of the first newspapers to use Apple Mac desktop publishing. The ''Weekly Mail'' criticised the government and its

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies, which led to the banning of the paper in 1988 by then

State President The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...

P. W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

. The paper was renamed the ''Weekly Mail & Guardian'' from 30 July 1993. The

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and ...

(GMG), the publisher of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', became the majority shareholder of the print edition in 1995, and the name was changed to ''Mail & Guardian''. In 2002, 87.5% of the company was sold to the Newtrust Company Botswana Limited, which was owned by

Trevor Ncube Trevor Vusumuzi Ncube is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur and newspaper publisher now living in South Africa and publishing in both countries. As an editor and publisher, he was a critical voice in media of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe an ...

, a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

an publisher and entrepreneur. Ncube took over as the CEO of the company. In 2006 MD Africa became the ''Mail & Guardians national distributor. The change resulted in good circulation growth, despite difficult market conditions. In 2013 the newspaper achieved a record period with 51,551 copies circulated. MDA distributed a number of publications including

Noseweek ''Noseweek'' is a South African tabloid published by Chaucer Publications that has appeared monthly since June 1993. It is best known for regular legal action against it, such as a failed bid at interdiction by banking group FirstRand (where edito ...

and Destiny magazine. In 2017,

Media Development Investment Fund Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), formerly Media Development Loan Fund, is a New York-registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and mission-driven investment fund that provides low-cost financing to independent news and information busi ...

, a New York-based not-for-profit investment fund, announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the ''Mail & Guardian''. The restructured ownership saw the CEO, Hoosain Karjieker, acquire a minority stake in the business as part of a

Black Economic Empowerment Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a policy of the South African government which aims to facilitate broader participation in the economy by black people. A form of affirmative action, it is intended especially to redress the inequalities cre ...

(BEE) transaction. Staff continue to own a 10% share of the company. The former majority shareholder, Trevor Ncube, disposed of his equity interest. The newspaper's headquarters are in Johannesburg. The editor-in-chief is Ron Derby and the CEO is Hoosain Karjieker. The ''Mail & Guardian'' is considered a newspaper of record for South Africa.

The ''Mail & Guardian Online''

In 1994, the ''Mail & Guardian Online'' was launched in conjunction with

Media24 Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web porta ...

(a subsidiary of the

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

group), becoming the first internet news publication in Africa. It has grown into its own daily news operation with a number of writers, multimedia producers, sub-editors and more. It is run out of the ''Mail & Guardian'' offices in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The site focuses on local, international and African hard news, sport and business. The website began its life as the ''Electronic Mail & Guardian'', which was initially an e-mail subscription service that allowed readers living outside South Africa to receive ''Mail & Guardian'' newspaper stories before they reached newspaper subscribers. Soon after, the service expanded into a searchable online archive, published in partnership with

Sangonet SANGONeT is a South African organisation, whose acronym stands for The Southern African NGO Network. It is a civil society organisation with a focus on ICT, which was founded in 1987, and has a history closely linked to the social and political ch ...

, the country's oldest internet service provider. A website was added, which in turn progressed from producing a weekly mirror of the printed newspaper to generating its own daily news. The ''Mail & Guardian Online'' was jointly owned by internet service provider

MWEB Mweb is an Internet Service Provider based in South Africa since 1997. Mweb is a division of Internet Solutions Digital (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Dimension Data, and its headquarters are located in the Mweb Building in Parow, Cape Town. Hi ...

and publishing company M&G Media until M&G Media purchased 100% of the operation in 2008. It has interactive news photo galleries, discussion forums and special reports on subjects such as

, HIV and South African President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-apart ...

. It is known for hard-hitting political reporting, investigations as well as strong beat reporting, particularly in education, labour, environment and health.

Awards

* 2012: CNN African Journalism award (2012) * 2012:

Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. History ...

Sikuvile Journalism Award * 2011: Vodacom Journalist of the Year * 2011: Bookmark awards * 2010: Bookmark awards * 2008:

Webby Awards The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

Honoree for News in Photos and Political Blog * 2005: Webby Awards Honoree for Web Best Practices * 2001: Forbes.com voted the ''Mail & Guardian Online'' one of the world's top 175 websites * 1996: Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Journalism * 1995: International Press Directory - Best International Newspaper

Distribution figures

References

External links