Mr M.K Lekgoro - Chairperson

Parliament Portfolio Committee on Communications

GCIS

Private Bag X745

PRETORIA 0001

Honourable Mr Lekgoro,

Print Media SA would like to take this opportunity to affirm its support and commitment to ongoing transformation both within the print media industry and the advertising and marketing industries.

Print Media SA supports the fundamental values adopted by the advertising and marketing industries and the process they are currently involved with. We acknowledge, however, that the advertising, marketing and media industries are very separate entities, each with its own unique history, role, challenges and opportunities; each wrestling with different stages of the transformation process. While we therefore support the process underway within the advertising and marketing industry, Print Media SA will continue to focus on its own transformation process.

This process was initiated a number of years ago through the establishment of the Media Development and Diversity Agency. This is a unique private-public partnership in which Print Media SA members have actively committed themselves to funding a five-year programme to grow media in marginalized communities. Crucially, this initiative focuses on wealth and opportunity creation rather than mere redistribution, a key tenet of empowerment. Print Media SA, as you know, was intimately involved in assisting with the drafting of the legislation which has given expression to the MDDA, which enjoys the full support of the print industry. In fact, the print media industry led the media sector in its support for, and advancement of, this major transformation initiative.

Print Media SA members are also involved in their own internal transformation processes which have been ongoing for some time. While we acknowledge that this process is not complete, transformation and empowerment remain key goals which we continue to strive for. As you are aware a delegation from Print Media SA met with you and your committee to present to you an outline of the different elements within our industry. That presentation was an introduction and we undertook to meet with you again with a more detailed presentation which will provide an analysis of the overall changes in the demographics and the representivity within the industry as a whole. This will then be contextualized within the transformation and empowerment processes taking place in South Africa. The Committee asked a number of questions which required additional research and we agreed to address these in our second presentation to you. We are looking forward to meeting with you again.

In conclusion, we would like to stress our ongoing commitment to the transformation taking place within the print media and express our support of the initiative taking place within the advertising and marketing industries.

Yours Sincerely

Trevor Ncube