Government - SA's most ambitious media baron

Jimmy Manyi's announcement in City Press that government will launch a fortnightly newspaper called Vuk'uzenzele is just the beginning. Manyi says the publication will be the unapologetic mouthpiece of government, and that with this foray into the newspaper world is just the beginning of the state's expansion into media production and ownership.

"We are not ruling mobile out in terms of our future plans, and we are looking at that space very closely as well. We already have a radio studio at GCIS [the government communication and information system] where we broadcast to about 25 community stations, so we already have that kind of capacity." Manyi admits, though, that while there is capacity, these radio studios aren't used regularly.

Manyi says the very reason for his controversial appointment as head of the GCIS was to take state media "to the next level. This newspaper is just the first early steps that we are packing on. We want to make sure government is not a secret service. We want to make sure all avenues of getting the news out will be entrusted to us."

Continue reading the full story on www.thedailymaverick.co.za.

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