Independent Media is a publishing house that runs a network of local newspapers including Cape Times, The Star, Pretoria News and Daily News as well as weeklies newspapers and magazines. The company also runs Independent Online (IOL), a major news portal in South Africa.
Media assets
Publishing: Newspapers: Dailies- Cape Argus, Cape Times, The Mercury, The Star, Pretoria News, Daily News, Isolezwe, Daily Voice; Weeklies- Saturday Star, Pretoria News Weekend, Sunday Independent, Weekend Argus, Post, Independent on Saturday, Sunday Tribune, Isolezwe ngo Mqibelo, Isolezwe ngo Sonto, I’solezwe lesiXhosa; Magazines- GQ Style, GQ, Glamour, Glamour Hair, House & Garden, House & Garden Gourmet, Design Directory, Personal Finance, Business Report
News portal: IOL
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed or State-Owned (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
Independent Media is 45%-controlled by state-owned companies from South Africa and China. A total of 55% of the company is owned by Sekunjalo Investments, a privately held equity firm, via its subsidiary Sekunjalo Independent Media. The remainder of the shares are co-owned by Public Investment Corporation, a South African state-owned corporation (25%) and two Chinese state-owned groups (China International Television Corporation and China Africa Development Fund), holding 20% in the publisher. China International Television Corporation is a company wholly owned by China Central Television (CCTV), China’s main state broadcast group. The publishing house was purchased by Sekunjalo Investments in 2013 with funds from Public Investment Corporation (PIC), a company run by the South African state.
According to the latest company data, Independent Media is co-owned by Sagarmatha Technologies Limited (a subsidiary of the Sekunjalo Group) and Interacom Investment Holding Limited, a company co-owned by China International Television Corporation (CITVC ) and China-Africa Development Fund (CADFUND).
PIC and Sekunjalo Group have been embroiled in a lengthy series of litigations. PIC has been trying to claw back funds it loaned to Sekunjalo, which were taken from a pension fund, to buy the publisher from its former Irish owners in 2013. In March 2023, the two companies seemed to have settled.
Source of funding and budget
The publisher receives funding from the Chinese government, according to journalists working for Independent Media publications, yet its operations are, in the majority, financed through commercial revenues, mainly advertising.
Editorial independence
The media outlets operated by Independent Media have become openly supportive of the government after the purchase of the publisher from its former Irish owners, Independent News & Media (INM), a Dublin-based publishing group. In recent years, however, they have become staunch supporters of narratives propagated by the Chinese government. The outlets run by Independent Media regularly publish content from Chinese state media. Local experts also identified a pattern of regular information dissemination of Chinese media content in the group’s publications.
No domestic statute establishing the editorial independence of Independent Media has been identified during the latest round of research.
No independent assessment or oversight mechanism to validate Independent Media’s editorial independence has been identified during the latest round of research.
July 2024