Still no New Age in South Africa as pro-government daily postponed

Oct 20, 2010, 10:03 GMT

Johannesburg - The planned launch Wednesday of a new pro- government South African daily newspaper was indefinitely postponed after the editor and four other senior staff members suddenly resigned.

The resignations, which come as a major blow for The New Age, took place Tuesday as hundreds of journalists marched in Johannesburg to mark Media Freedom Day.

Editor Vuyo Mvoko, the deputy editor, news editor, arts editor and opinion pages editor refused to comment publicly on their decision to quit the paper on the eve of the launch, saying to do so would be 'neither proper nor professionally acceptable.'

Managing editor Gary Naidoo was quoted by local media as saying that the paper was still 'on track' but gave no new launch date.

The New Age is published by Atul Gupta, a businessman and friend of President Jacob Zuma. Essop Pahad, a former minister in the administration of ex-president Thabo Mbeki is also a director of the company.

The New Age had been panned by local media after declaring it would take a glass half-full approach to news and be constructive in its criticism of government.

A preview edition of The New Age circulated at an ANC policy conference in Durban in September contained a hefty amount of government advertising.

The ruling African National Congress complains that the private media is too damning of government's performance and announced proposals for tighter regulation of the print media.

On Tuesday, around 200 journalists marched in Johannesburg to protest a Protection of Information bill that would dramatically increase government secrecy and allow journalists who report on classified information to be jailed.