NEWSPAPERS ARE IN REVAMP MODE AS DIPPING READERSHIP CAUSES CONCERN

Daily Post: Shake-up on the way.
Photo: David Robie

LATE last year, when Fiji's third national newspaper was set up, things were expected to heat up in the media industry. The Fiji Sun, backed by Fijian Holdings Ltd, CJ Patel and Vinod Patel Ltd (Ba Provincial Council has also joined) was hailed by its creators as the newspaper that would shake up the market. But while response to the paper has been lukewarm, it has certainly achieved one thing - shaking up the market.

When this edition went to press, the Daily Post was planning a major revamp. Shareholders, including the government (44 percent), Colonial and the Unit Trust of Fiji (23 per cent each) were to have pumped in funds to the tune of $700,000 to revitalise the ailing paper. Part of the company's restructuring includes the appointment of Ranjit Singh as general manager, taking over from Jale Moala who was acting in that position.

Speaking to The Review, Singh revealed that part of the process is to change the physical size and look of the paper. Its dimensions have been increased to that of the Fiji Times and Fiji Sun and readers will be presented with a new masthead and logo. "The shareholders felt that we needed a much-needed shot in the arm," says Singh. "That's why we are having this major rebranding exercise."

Before the Rabuka-led government exited from the scene early last year, part of the privatisation plan was to divest its shares in the Daily Post. At the time, the company was facing serious cash flow problems and many had basically written the paper off. However, Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry surprised many when he announced his government would retain its shares in the Daily Post.

In fact, he drew a lot of criticism from economic commentators and members of the public when he further revealed the government would pump more money into the tabloid. Many saw it as a waste of taxpayers' funds. Singh sees it differently: "For the shareholders, this is a good opportunity to build up the paper and when it is in a better financial position, they can then off-load their shares."

Another part of the rebranding exercise is a shift in the editorial slant of the paper. According to Singh, reporters will be undergoing more training to sharpen their skills, with a lot more emphasis on investigative and analytical stories. "We will be building up our business section and upgrading our system in the newsroom," he explains.

The Daily Post revamp comes on the heels of a Tebbutt Research media survey, where participants of the poll were asked the question: "Did you read a particular newspaper yesterday?" The results showed that the second newspaper market is now split down the middle after the entry of the Sun. In 1998, a similar survey found that nine percent of those polled had read the Daily Post. By last year, this had moved down to four percent. The Fiji Times remains the most read newspaper but it too has experienced a drop in readership. From 35 percent in 1998, it polled 30 percent last year.

What's significant about the newspaper poll results is not so much that the Times has lost ground but that newspaper readership is generally falling. This, according to industry experts, reflects international trends. Last year, the Economist magazine observed that the problem for newspapers was competition - not specifically from any other medium but more generally for people's time. "Over the years technology and economics have produced more and more ways of occupying people's leisure hours: more television channels, more magazines, more theme parks and now video games, Internet chatrooms and all the other delights of the digital age," it said.

The threat to advertising poses the biggest problem to the newspapers, especially in classifieds. This is where the bulk of their revenues falls as traditionally, this has been where the bulk of the advertising dollar is spent. The Times continues to dominate this segment although the Daily Post has seen a slight increase in government advertisements. But this is only because of the new government's policy to restrict its advertising to the paper. The Fiji Sun has been struggling. In a desperate bid to boost sales, it has been placing free birthday and death messages in its classifieds section.

Industry observers say the local market is just not ready to handle three daily newspapers surviving and so I suspect one will go in the next year," says William Parkinson, managing director of Communications Fiji Ltd, parent company of FM96. Behind the scenes, informal talks are underway between some directors of the Fiji Sun and Daily Post to merge the two papers. But insiders say it is highly unlikely the two would marry because of government opposition.

Indeed, the entire media market in Fiji is saturated at the moment, to the point of overflowing. Besides the three dailies, there are eight commercial radio stations, three monthly business magazines, one commercial TV station and numerous other commercial publications.

With an apparent lack of confidence among the business community, the situation looks set to get worse for this lot.

It's for such reasons that companies like Communications Fiji Ltd are spreading their wings. In June last year, the company bought 100 percent of the shares in PNG FM Ltd, the parent company of Nau FM, YUMI FM and an event company, Total Event. It also established Paua FM in the Solomon Islands, of which it owns 60 percent. The company is also looking at investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific and Australasian regions. "The change allows us to operate more effectively as a group, sharing resources across the region," explains Parkinson.

There is also a decided shift towards the Internet. Associated Media Ltd, the parent company of The Review, set up www.fijilive.com in April last year. It has now grown to be the largest website in the South Pacific, averaging 7000 hits a day. Communications Fiji also has a similar website called www.fijivillage.com. But while growth in this area is reaching outrageous levels overseas, Fiji is still picking up speed. Industry insiders say it will be another two or three years before things really heat up here, mainly because of the low computer penetration in the country, let alone Internet access.

It is undoubtedly television that is making the most gains in the country. Fiji TV, the only commercial TV station in Fiji, has a reach of 80 percent of Fiji's population. With such a reach, advertisers are turning more and more now to the tube, pulling their advertising dollar away from other media outlets. The monopoly is making some nervous, especially the People's Coalition government.

Minister of Communications Meli Bogileka has publicly stated that other players need to be introduced into the market because he says the quality of service and programmes dished out by Fiji TV are just not up to par. To prove his point, members of the public came out hard on the company after it switched its pay sports channel from ESPN Sports to Star Sports, which occasionally runs commentaries in Chinese.

It also removed CNBC from its programmes, prompting a sarcastic reply from David Jamieson, a view in Nadi. "By removing CNBC you (Fiji TV) have finally managed to eradicate the last vestige of programming containing any informatve, educational or intellectual level. Well done!" Said another viewer, Emosi Tuwai, in the letters column: "Perhaps it's time Fiji TV should lose its monopoly and allow other television stations with better programmes to set up here in Fiji. What's wrong with a little competition?"

The Communications Ministry is currently reviewing submissions for TV licences from interested parties. This is despite a court case pending between Fiji TV and government whereby the latter took the company to court so it could revoke its [12-year] exclusive licence.

Fiji TV won the first round of that battle but outside of court a war rages between the company and the government.

A three-year work permit for its new chief executive, Kenneth Clark, was refused by the Immigration Department and then reduced to one-year after which it will be reviewed. Prime Minister Chaudhry and his cabinet members have also systematically accused the TV station of biased reporting in its news programme. Ironically, the government is a shareholder in the company with its shares held in trust by the Fiji Development Bank.

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