Pretoria- The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has dispelled the notion that government plans to pull its job adverts from mainstream newspapers.
“The Sunday Times’ assertion that government plans to pull its job adverts from mainstream newspapers as a form of retribution … cannot be further from the truth,” said GCIS Acting Director-General Donald Liphoko on Wednesday.
In the article, journalist Thanduxolo Jika misrepresents the facts and that by doing so he has deprived readers of the newspaper the true story, said Liphoko.
“His claim that recruitment adverts in government’s newspaper Vuk’uzenzele will cut mainstream media’s revenue by “tens of millions of rands a year” is in bad faith and seeks to damage the goodwill that GCIS, governments mandated media buying implementer has established with its media partners,” he explained.
The GCIS meets with all mainstream print media owners, including the Sunday Times, and assists the sales teams to forecast revenues based on governments projected advertising commitment.
The GCIS said that recruitment advertising in Vuk’uzenzele has been piloted for the past 18 months with the cooperation of the mainstream print media.
The Vuk’uzenzele recruitment section is an eight page supplement that will be published once a month. It will therefore attract a fraction of government’s recruitment spend when compared to the daily and weekly mainstream publications share.
“It is worth noting that government departments advertise in all newspapers that carry recruitment and careers sections to fill their recruitment needs regardless of their editorial coverage of government.”
In last week’s edition of the Sunday Times newspaper more than 36 recruitment adverts, including full page spreads, appeared from the various spheres of government and its agencies. “As a matter of fact, the Sunday Times received the majority share of this advertising.”
Vuk’uzenzele, an important medium for people in lower LSMs and rural areas will share in the government’s total recruitment spend on merit as the largest single copy monthly newspaper.
“This government publication will assist citizens who cannot afford the high cover price of paid for publications to access socio-economic opportunities created by government,” said Liphoko.
The free newspaper is published in all official languages and Braille. "The newspaper fills a critical information gap in our rural and peri-urban communities who have traditionally been shunned by mainstream publications," Liphoko said. - SAnews.gov.za
