The City Press reported that Communications Minister Faith Muthambi spent R1.6 million on adverts in one edition of The New Age newspaper, which the Department of Communications is set to request be declared as irregular expenditure.<\/p>\n
According to the newspaper, senior managers at the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) responsible for government ads were not aware of The New Age adverts.<\/p>\n
One of the GCIS managers told the City Press that nobody authorised the advertisements, and that \u201cthe minister and her people went behind our back\u201d.<\/p>\n
In January 2015 news emerged that the Department of Communications spent over R10 million on advertising<\/strong><\/a> in The New Age this past financial year.<\/p>\n The DA said the amount was \u201cskewed\u201d compared to what was spent on other local newspapers.<\/p>\n \u201cThis accounts for 11.2% of government adspend across 248 publications. A comparison with the biggest newspapers shows just how skewed government adspend is towards the Gupta-owned newspaper, despite its low readership,\u201d said the DA.<\/p>\n \u201cThere can be no rational explanation for government spending R10,2 million on advertisements in a newspaper with 153,000 readers, but just half a million rand on a newspaper with 180 000 readers,\u201d said the DA.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only explanation for the disproportionate adspend on The New Age is that it is owned by the politically-connected Gupta family, and because its editorial stance is unashamedly pro-Zuma.\u201d<\/p>\n The full report is available in the City Press\u00a0of 1 March 2015<\/em><\/p>\n What is freedom of expression in media?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore media news<\/h3>\n