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South Africa’s media industry has been dealt another blow with one of the country’s leading 24-hour television news stations announcing it could cut half its workforce by end-2026. eNCA, run by JSE-listed eMedia, joins a long list of local media operators that have announced job cuts in recent years, even as group CEO Khalik Sherrif took home R19m in the most recent financial year. About 171 out of 309 of the news broadcaster’s employees, more than half its workforce, are in the line of fire. The proposed cuts will hit the news, technical and broadcasting departments as the 24-hour news channel moves to dismantle its traditional newsroom structure and replace it with a smaller, digital-first operation.Staff were told on Tuesday to report to eMedia’s offices at noon on Wednesday, when the section 189 consultation process is due to begin.The notices, signed by eNCA managing director Norman Munzhelele and seen by Business Day sister publication the Sunday Times, make it clear that the newsroom is being reshaped for a media environment in which audiences are increasingly consuming news outside traditional television.The last decade-and-a-half has seen a jobs bloodbath for South Africa’s newsrooms, in line with trends seen worldwide. A number of media houses, such as Media24, Daily Maverick, Independent Media, Primedia and Business Day’s Arena Holdings, have retrenched staff over the past five years as companies streamline their operations to cope with the loss of advertising revenue, particularly for legacy businesses.This has resulted in media professionals losing their jobs, as well as companies, such as Associated Media Publishing, which produced titles such as Cosmopolitan, shutting their doors. Read: R19m vs R98,000 | eMedia discloses its wide pay gapIn July 2020, well into the Covid-19 pandemic, Kate Skinner, then executive director at the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), told Business Day that journalists in the country had halved from about 10,000 in 2010 to fewer than 5,000, suggesting an attrition rate of 50% at the time. By September 2024, when Daily Maverick went through its own round of job cuts, the publication estimated that South Africa had lost 70% of its news media workforce. eMedia — owner of eNCA, eTV, OpenView and eVOD — has lamented in recent years the decimation of advertising revenue across television broadcasts. Yet, the group cheered its outperformance of the television advertising sales market in the year to March 2026. The television advertising market went back 8.7%, but eMedia’s profit decreased by only 2%. What is likely to leave a bad taste for those whose jobs are on the line is the pay disparity in the listed group. The looming cuts come just weeks after eMedia disclosed its remuneration figures under new requirements in the amended Companies Act that came into effect in May.The figures showed a stark pay gap, with the group’s highest earners taking home five times as much as its lowest-paid employees. Sheriff was the group’s highest earner, receiving R19m in the financial year, including a R10.3m bonus. The lowest-paid employee received R98,000.The group reported revenue of R3bn and profit of R299.5m.The largest round of cuts in recent memory came in 2024 when Naspers-owned Media24 announced a strategic shift that put 400 jobs at risk as it sought to close the print editions of five newspapers, transitioning three of them into digital-only brands.Media24 also hived off its media logistics business, On the Dot, and its community newspaper portfolio to Novus, subject to regulatory approvals. Competition authorities approved Novus’ bid to acquire those assets in the latter part of the year. The group’s latest financial performance shows that the business is still under strain, again underscoring the immense pressure felt by South Africa’s established news publishers.Full year revenue to March fell 28%, from $141m to $102m. The adjusted loss before interest and tax position came in at $16m from a loss of $10m in the prior year. In local currency, revenue fell by 27%.eNCA says its current structure is based on traditional newsroom models that “no longer support this evolving landscape”.It points to shifting audience consumption habits and the sustained decline in traditional television viewership as the drivers behind the overhaul. The company wants to cut duplication, streamline workflows, merge operations and deploy staff and technical resources more efficiently across platforms.At the centre of its plan is a single newsroom with a digital-first strategy, designed to allow continuous publishing and a more integrated approach across eNCA’s linear, online and digital platforms.Business Day
