Cape Town - The Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) has revealed that 43 small newspapers perished in the last three years due to diminishing advertising revenue.
AIP said it was struggling to survive because of "unsustainable competition from publications owned by major media groups."
A skills deficit in business management was also pulling the small publishers down, it said.
AIP, led by its executive director Louise Vale, was part of several print media stakeholders who made presentations on Thursday at an Indaba organised by Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications.
The Indaba focused on diversity and transformation in the country's print media landscape.
AIP's concerns were echoed by the Competition Commission of South Africa (CCSA).
CCSA divisional manager Oliver Josie said big newspapers used "predatory pricing schemes" when advertising to push small ones out of business. Once the small player was out of business, he said, the companies then pushed up advertising prices "to recoup costs."
He said that cases of such activities took time to investigate and gather evidence.
Jane Duncan, who represented lobby group Right2know, told BuaNews that mainstream media ownership in the country did not represent South Africa's demographics.
She said that the public space in print media was dominated by a "few voices."
Given the "complexity of our country," she said that it was not healthy for Media 24, Avusa and Independent Newspapers to dominate the scene.
South Africa was dominated by black people and such a hold on the media "impacts on the credibility", she said.
She said the Indaba was important as it had highlighted issues such as those affecting community newspapers.
AIP said it was concerned that government's annual advertising budget of R1 billion was "exclusively dedicated to spend on the major media houses."
It said that if government was serious about transformation and diversity in media, it should urgently review that spending.
AIP members publish in various languages such as isiXhosa, Sesotho, English and Afrikaans.
The publications covered both rural and urban areas and are estimated to have created 4 000 jobs, contributing R120 million annual turnover to the SA economy.
The Indaba is set to continue today. - BuaNews
