All major newspaper companies have appeared before the Print and Digital Media Transformation Task Team, Print and Digital Media SA (PDMSA) said on Tuesday (April 30).<\/p>\n
“We at PDMSA are delighted that all the country’s biggest newspaper and digital media houses have now made their representations to the [team],” CEO Ingrid Louw said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“This augurs well for the legitimacy of the process.”<\/p>\n
Louw said PDMSA was keenly awaiting the task team’s report and recommendations.<\/p>\n
The task team was set up in September last year to help the industry develop a common transformation strategy.<\/p>\n
It is examining issues such as ownership, management, employment equity, skills development, and the low level of black ownership in many large media groups.<\/p>\n
It was established after Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications criticised the print media sector and called for a transformation charter.<\/p>\n
PDMSA, formerly called Print Media SA, rejected the idea and said the media industry would deal with the matter in its own way.<\/p>\n
The process was expected to be finished by the end of April this year, but was delayed amid concern of duplication with the Competition Commission investigation into anti-competitive behaviour in the industry.<\/p>\n
This matter was finalised last month and the task team’s hearing resumed.<\/p>\n
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