SAPA's future to be known soon

[LazyLion]

A decision on the future of the SA Press Association (Sapa) will be announced soon, board chairman Tim du Plessis said on Monday.

"We don't expect this to take very long. We hope to shortly be able to make an announcement on Sapa's future," he said.

"The Sapa board had a meeting last Friday at which Gallo Images gave a presentation on how Sapa could in future become part of the Gallo Images operation."

Du Plessis said this was followed by an in-depth discussion. The board members representing the remaining media houses on the Sapa board would consult their representatives and return with mandates.

Gallo Images is looking at acquiring Sapa, following the withdrawal of membership by Times Media Group and Caxton. Independent Newspapers will also withdraw its membership in November, having given the news agency a six-month notice period. This leaves Media 24 as the sole remaining member of Sapa.

Independent Newspapers, Caxton, and TMG's digital platforms remain Sapa subscribers.

The withdrawal of memberships left Sapa's operational model needing revision, and a new home for Sapa was sought, with the board receiving enquiries locally and internationally.

After considering Sapa's 75-year history and it being the only independent news agency in Africa, the board believed Sapa should remain a South African enterprise.

Gallo Images thereafter emerged as a possible candidate.

Last month, Du Plessis said Gallo was doing a "due diligence" process at Sapa.

"...They are looking at the model, the production issues, the IT requirements, and they are also looking how it could be possible for Sapa to become part of the Gallo group of companies," he said at the time.

"On the basis of the due diligence process, they will make a final decision, and the ultimate decision will lie with the Sapa board."

The main concern for the board was that Sapa continued as a news agency, and that "proper regard" be taken for the current staff.


Source : Sapa /mar/tk/jk/aa/ks
Date : 11 Aug 2014 16:04

 

[supersunbird]

Hope they get a course on Polo Sedan vs Jetta somewhere during this...

 

[Paul Hjul]

yikes

not that surprising though, wonder if SAPA's demise will create a gap for another wire aggregation news service

 

[Paul Hjul]

moreover - and the more I think about this - surely Gallo is only after the image library of SAPA and wouldn't want to keep the wire service?

 

[ToxicBunny]

moreover - and the more I think about this - surely Gallo is only after the image library of SAPA and wouldn't want to keep the wire service?

That would be precisely what Gallo are after in my opinion... they have no interest in a news aggregation service from what i can tell.

 

[Ep27]

Their journalism is mostly quite weak.

 

[MickeyD]

Their journalism is mostly quite weak.

"They" don't have journalists.

 

[Paul Hjul]

which makes me wonder why SAPA don't split off the news wire from the image library and then wind the news wire service to being a lean aggregator -- I mean SAPA is a section 21 company

surely the costs to manage the wire service are tiny and recouped from subscription services etc ...

 

[bwana]

That would be precisely what Gallo are after in my opinion... they have no interest in a news aggregation service from what i can tell.

How can you tell that?

 

[Paul Hjul]

"They" don't have journalists.

except for some police writers .... well sort of

but yes the quality of SAPA journalism is an indicator of wire reporting in SA rather than SAPA journalists. It is an aggregation service that has a prescribed (but not always followed) style that encourages sharing of media information

 

[Paul Hjul]

How can you tell that?

I don't know of Gallo having any news aggregation service at all and from a profitability perspective I am not sure how it would work for their business

SAPA are a non-profit entity

 

[bwana]

I don't know of Gallo having any news aggregation service at all and from a profitability perspective I am not sure how it would work for their business

SAPA are a non-profit entity

I think it's something they might be interested in - one of their main competitors offers a similar service in the sports area.

 

[ToxicBunny]

I think it's something they might be interested in - one of their main competitors offers a similar service in the sports area.

Ahhh well, in that case they MAY be interested in it.. but I would assume their overriding interest is in the image library since SAPA should have a relatively large one.

 

[Paul Hjul]

I think it's something they might be interested in - one of their main competitors offers a similar service in the sports area.

the release certainly suggests wanting to keep things ticking "The main concern for the board was that Sapa continued as a news agency, and that "proper regard" be taken for the current staff" and there might be a case for absorbing the image library etc ... into Gallo and keeping the news aggregator as a value add and run it on a break even model

it just does worry me a lot

 

[Garson007]

Less articles with shocking grammar in CA's future.

 

[Paul Hjul]

ANN has the following on this for 2 week ago: http://www.thenewage.co.za/132696-1024-53-Gallo_looking_into_Sapa_purchase

And there is this: http://themediaonline.co.za/2014/07/gallo-images-presses-ahead-with-sapa-due-diligence/

 

[zippy]

moreover - and the more I think about this - surely Gallo is only after the image library of SAPA and wouldn't want to keep the wire service?

Yes. The wire service seems doomed. Hope not. Leaves Reuters and...all the twits on twitter

 

[bwana]

the release certainly suggests wanting to keep things ticking "The main concern for the board was that Sapa continued as a news agency, and that "proper regard" be taken for the current staff" and there might be a case for absorbing the image library etc ... into Gallo and keeping the news aggregator as a value add and run it on a break even model

it just does worry me a lot

That's how I see it as well.

 

[Paul Hjul]

That's how I see it as well.

I am just not sure that (a) they can actually keep it ticking, especially with the underlying problem which is the bulk of the print media participants (in size) discontinuing their SAPA membership, (b) that the non-profit mandate of SAPA can conveniently (or even practicably) be dissolved and transferred to an operational unit of a for-profit company. In my general view it would be better for SAPAs IP to be licensed in its entirety to Gallo and for a winding service agreement to come into play but unfortunately I haven't seen the presentation.


As I see it the problem is one of an industry breakdown with several media houses have introduced their own press room mechanisms (which ate into SAPAs purpose and profits), the National Press Club (which really isn't anything of the sort - and remember their award to the rhino ...) and SABC breakfasts and what not. We've seen SANEF rather than SAPA performing the role of a press association and the Press Council is the conscience of the industry. SAPAs relevance is essentially restricted to its multimedia library which should be on a for-profit basis and its wire service which is a precarious but vital thing in itself.

 

[Paul Hjul]

Two more offers have been made:
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-south-africa/two-more-offers-for-sapa

So when is MyBB putting together an offer?

Oddly enough in between Crystal Web stuff I've spent the last two weeks working on a conference paper on reference systems and citations in a digital era and one of the of the areas of a future for wire service type enterprises such as SAPA is actually in the archiving and persistent object lookup facilities needed in journalism and for social sciences more broadly. So in addition to the media houses eating into their profits Sabinet has actually been a threat to SAPA. The case for Kagiso Media (owners of Juta and Company) to actually step in as part of a white knight consortium for SAPA is actually quite easy to make.