KOMANI-KAROO Express, Media24’s free local newspaper, covering the areas of Komani (formerly Queenstown) Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Middelburg, Somerset East and surrounds, will now be published every week again.
The newspaper, of which 30 000 copies is published in a printed format on the last Thursday of every month, will now be available in E-publication (digital PDF) every week. It will still be published on the last Thursday of the month as a printed newspaper.
“Due to the impact of COVID-19, we had to make the difficult decision to reduce the frequency of Komani-Karoo Express to a monthly newspaper, as opposed to the weekly publication that it was,” said Bettie Giliomee-Rossouw, Publisher.
“There is, however, a huge demand from our readers, as well as our advertisers, for a weekly free newspaper, and we have decided, as a first of its kind among Media24 local newspapers, to publish it as an E-publication in those weeks that it isn’t printed.
“We are very excited about this opportunity to bring this free publication to our readers on a weekly basis again. It will have the same hyperlocal editorial content produced by our correspondents who live in the towns where we distribute.
“In addition, it will also feature news from the other regions in the Eastern Cape as well as lifestyle page, focus pages and readers’ competitions,” Giliomee-Rossouw added.
According to Giliomee-Rossouw, research done by Ads24 and Forum24 in June last year, indicated that 93% of Komani-Karoo Express readers use the internet often. In addition, in November 2021 alone, Komani-Karoo Express had over 38 000 page views on its News24 and Netwerk24 landing pages (websites).
Komani-Karoo Express stories can be read for free on the News24 and Netwerk24 sites when accessed via the Komani-Karoo Express Facebook page.
Inserts by national retail advertisers will also be published as part of the E-publication. On the days that the Komani-Karoo Express is published in print format, readers will also still be able to access it as an E-publication.
“Due to the fact that the anchor towns are surrounded by farming and rural communities who have to rely on the internet for their news consumption, we think this is the ideal community for a project of this nature,” said Giliomee-Rossouw. “This will also keep readers abreast of specials on offer at the big retailers in the anchor towns to help readers plan their shopping trips to town.”
- To read the first E-publication of Komani-Karoo Express, which will be published today (Thursday, February 10), go to bit.ly/KKExpress, which will take you straight to the E-Publication.
