TheMail & Guardian, formerly theWeekly Mail, is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media inJohannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis,investigative reporting,Southern African news, local arts, music and popular culture.
TheMail & Guardian is considered thenewspaper of record for South Africa, due to its reputation for in-depth analysis critical reporting, and neutrality.[2][3]
The publication began as theWeekly Mail, an alternative newspaper by a group ofjournalists in 1985 after the closure of two leading liberal newspapers,The Rand Daily Mail andSunday Express.
TheWeekly Mail criticised the government and itsapartheid policies, which led to the banning of the paper in 1988 by thenState PresidentP. W. Botha. The paper was renamed theWeekly Mail & Guardian from 30 July 1993. The paper almost folded in the early 1990s after a failed attempt to reinvent itself as a daily newspaper.[4] TheLondon-basedGuardian Media Group (GMG), the publisher ofThe Guardian, became the majority shareholder of the print edition in 1995, and the name was changed toMail & Guardian.
In 2002, 87.5% of the company was sold to the Newtrust Company Botswana Limited, which was owned byTrevor Ncube, aZimbabwean publisher and entrepreneur.[5] Ncube took over as the CEO of the company.[6][7][8][9]
In 2006 MD Africa became theMail & Guardian's 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 includingNoseweek andDestiny magazine.
In 2017,Media Development Investment Fund, a New York–based not-for-profit investment fund, announced that it had acquired a majority stake in theMail & Guardian. The restructured ownership saw the CEO, Hoosain Karjieker, acquire a minority stake in the business as part of aBlack Economic Empowerment (BEE) transaction. Staff continue to own a 10% share of the company. The former majority shareholder, Trevor Ncube, disposed of his equity interest.[10]
The newspaper's headquarters are in Johannesburg. The editor-in-chief is Ron Derby[11] and the CEO is Hoosain Karjieker.
In 1994, theMail & Guardian Online was launched in conjunction withMedia24 (a subsidiary of theNaspers 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 theMail & Guardian offices inRosebank, Johannesburg. The site focuses on local, international and African hard news, sport and business.
The website began its life as theElectronic Mail & Guardian, which was initially an e-mail subscription service that allowed readers living outside South Africa to receiveMail & Guardian newspaper stories before they reached newspaper subscribers. Soon after, the service expanded into a searchable online archive, published in partnership withSangonet, 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.
TheMail & Guardian Online was jointly owned by internet service providerMWEB 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 asZimbabwe, HIV and South African PresidentJacob Zuma. It is known for hard-hitting political reporting, investigations as well as strong beat reporting, particularly in education, labour, environment and health.
