Al Jazeera Journalism Review

outside image
A man reads the headlines of newspapers for sale on a street in Harare, Zimbabwe, on November 17, 2017 [Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters]

What Zimbabwe’s news rooms must learn from global media closures

A flourishing media needs more than just capital and a few good ideas - it needs innovation

 

Recent closures or downsizing at prominent global media outlets have not only shocked the industry, but also revealed its vulnerability in general.  

The list of media outlets shut down in recent years is long. Leading outlets such as Huffington Post Live in 2016, BuzzFeed - at one time seen as the future of journalism - and VICE - viewed as the upcoming leader in digital journalism - have all encountered financial problems of different magnitudes, resulting in department closures, layoffs or even bankruptcy. We learned that such organisations, while often celebrated and well-known, are not invincible. 

Indeed, a thriving organisation can seemingly go down in an instant. With cumulative years of notable contributions to the journalism field, the demise of these media outlets has been sad, a tragic loss to the industry, but happened rather swiftly, affecting many - not only the journalists who worked there. 

Despite the massive capital and technological knowhow behind some of these organisations, they still failed. So how did this happen? What this reveals is that money and good ideas are not always enough to sustain a thriving news outlet. It takes more than that.

Following the recent flurry of media closures and failures, to me, the most pertinent questions are: what lessons can be drawn and how adequately prepared is local media in face of these global uncertainties. 

In a show of solidarity in the UK, for example, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members at VICE UK were set to take part in strike action on June 29 and 30 over what they say is the company's failure to provide fair redundancy terms. “Members are taking industrial action in protest at the company's offer to those staff made redundant as a result of financial difficulties at VICE. The offer of £2,000 ($2,567) and statutory redundancy pay comes at a time when VICE has paid executives, including former chief executive officer Nancy Dubuc, up to $1.5 million a year in salary.” The strike was however called off, after the redundancy package was improved to £50,000 ($64,000).

In African nations, however, the collapse of media houses rarely attracts global attention but its effects are hugely felt by investors, local audiences and journalists, who will lose employment and are often affected the most.   

The media in Zimbabwe is already troubled, with the economy in freefall, inflation hovering above 600 percent and faltering investments, while advertising revenues just keep on falling. Experts cited by ZimLive, the digital news platform, have warned of turbulent times ahead for the local media, saying: “Some media analysts predict that several local newspapers, radio stations and television stations face closure by November 2023 as advertising revenue continues to dwindle after falling to as little as 25 percent in three years.” 

Already, the symptoms of a sick local media are being felt, with the largest newspaper groups, the government-owned Zimpapers and the independent Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), reportedly facing financial difficulties. Another state-controlled group, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), is also struggling, with staff saying they have been going for months without pay. A recent tweet by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), revealed the extent of journalists’ “incapacitation”.   

Faced with looming uncertainty, local journalists and media owners must be innovative for solutions

 

At AMH, there have been reports of state “infiltration”, with the major shareholder, Trevor Ncube, finally admitting that the president’s son-in-law now controls 39 percent of the publication, after much speculation. This came after “the New York-based Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) exited the group as a loan client,” according to the News Hawks.The state-owned Zimpapers group, with its main flagships, The Herald and The Sunday Mail, once thrived on state propaganda.

However, while the state-owned stables once enjoyed a monopoly and some subsidies from state coffers, things have changed and they must now compete to make profits in a highly competitive environment. The monopoly by the state broadcaster, ZBC, is slowly but surely gone and it is now struggling. The advent of independent, innovative players has seen its influence curtailed, as media consumers seek alternative, unbiased and credible sources of news. All these are tell-tale signs of a troubled media industry. 

Faced with looming uncertainty, therefore, local journalists and media owners must be innovative for solutions. Journalists need to look beyond their current employment, think globally and start to initiate other revenue streams, such as blogs, vlogs, podcasts etc. With this in mind, local media should take note of recent closures, study them and adequately strategise, to guard against similar calamities in the future. 

In Zimbabwe, AMH and the weekly Financial Gazette are taking some notable strides, having both introduced some paywalls to increase revenue, as newspaper sales have reduced drastically. The Talking Paper introduced by AMH has attracted interest, according to the group’s Digital and Online Editor, Silence Mugadzaweta. This was done by converting the cover designs of its publications into animated visual-audio motions. 

“The Talking Paper has made great impact as an easy to share multimedia content format combining audio, text and video. For us, it's a new product, first of its kind in Zimbabwe. It has allowed us to push both headlines, and videos at the same time. And our numbers have increased, many of our audience actually prefer to be on the Talking Paper and advertisers too have bought space, so it has yielded both commercial and content value.”

Mugadzaweta adds: “In terms of innovation in newsrooms, there is high demand for digital products that speak to audience needs and media needs to quickly adjust to survive. More and more audience research needs to be improved, make use of several social listening tools to sustain and be able to provide data backed content strategy.”

Derick Matsengarwodzi is an independent journalist based in Zimbabwe

 

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera Journalism Review’s editorial stance

 

 

 

More Articles

Investigating the Assassination of My Own Father

As a journalist, reporting on the murder of my father meant answering questions about my own position as an objective observer.

Diana López Zuleta
Diana López Zuleta Published on: 16 Jan, 2026
What Image of Gaza Will the World Remember?

Will the story of Gaza be reduced to official statements that categorise the Palestinian as a "threat"? Or to images of the victims that flood the digital space? And how can the media be transformed into a tool for reinforcing collective memory and the struggle over narratives?

Hassan Obeid
Hasan Obaid Published on: 13 Jan, 2026
Bridging the AI Divide in Arab Newsrooms

AI is reshaping Arab journalism in ways that entrench power rather than distribute it, as under-resourced MENA newsrooms are pushed deeper into dependency and marginalisation, while wealthy, tech-aligned media actors consolidate narrative control through infrastructure they alone can afford and govern.

Sara Ait Khorsa
Sara Ait Khorsa Published on: 10 Jan, 2026
Generative AI in Journalism and Journalism Education: Promise, Peril, and the Global North–South Divide

Generative AI is transforming journalism and journalism education, but this article shows that its benefits are unevenly distributed, often reinforcing Global North–South inequalities while simultaneously boosting efficiency, undermining critical thinking, and deepening precarity in newsrooms and classrooms.

Carolyne Lunga
Carolyne Lunga Published on: 2 Jan, 2026
Intifada 2.0: Palestinian Digital Journalism from Uprising to Genocide

From underground newsletters during the Intifadas to livestreams from Gaza, Palestinian journalism has evolved into a decentralised digital practice of witnessing under occupation. This article examines how citizen journalists, fixers and freelancers have not only filled gaps left by international media, but fundamentally transformed how Palestine is reported, remembered and understood.

Zina Q.
Zina Q. Published on: 24 Dec, 2025
How Can Journalism Make the Climate Crisis a People’s Issue?

Between the import of Western concepts and terminology that often fail to reflect the Arab context, and the denial of the climate crisis, or the inability to communicate it in clear, accessible terms, journalism plays a vital role in informing the public and revealing how climate change directly affects the fabric of daily life in the Arab world.

Bana Salama
Bana Salama Published on: 19 Dec, 2025
Inside Vietnam’s Disinformation Machine and the Journalists Exposing It from Exile

Vietnam’s tightly controlled media environment relies on narrative distortion, selective omission, and propaganda to manage politically sensitive news. Exiled journalists and overseas outlets have become essential in exposing these practices, documenting forced confessions and smear campaigns, and preserving access to information that would otherwise remain hidden.

AJR Contributor Published on: 15 Dec, 2025
What It Means to Be an Investigative Journalist Today

A few weeks ago, Carla Bruni, wife of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was seen removing the Mediapart logo from view. The moment became a symbol of a major victory for investigative journalism, after the platform exposed Gaddafi’s financing of Sarkozy’s election campaign, leading to his prison conviction. In this article, Edwy Plenel, founder of Mediapart and one of the most prominent figures in global investigative journalism, reflects on a central question: what does it mean to be an investigative journalist today?

Edwy Plenel
Edwy Plenel Published on: 27 Nov, 2025
In-Depth and Longform Journalism in the AI Era: Revival or Obsolescence?

Can artificial intelligence tools help promote and expand the reach of longform journalism, still followed by a significant audience, or will they accelerate its decline? This article examines the leading AI tools reshaping the media landscape and explores the emerging opportunities they present for longform journalism, particularly in areas such as search and content discovery.

. سعيد ولفقير. كاتب وصحافي مغربي. ساهم واشتغل مع عددٍ من المنصات العربية منذ أواخر عام 2014.Said Oulfakir. Moroccan writer and journalist. He has contributed to and worked with a number of Arab media platforms since late 2014.
Said Oulfakir Published on: 24 Nov, 2025
Leaked BBC Memo: What Does the Crisis Reveal?

How Should We Interpret the Leak of the “BBC Memo” on Editorial Standards? Can we truly believe that the section concerning U.S. President Donald Trump was the sole reason behind the wave of resignations at the top of the British broadcaster? Or is it more accurately seen as part of a broader attempt to seize control over editorial decision-making? And to what extent can the pressure on newsrooms be attributed to the influence of the Zionist lobby?

 Mohammed Abuarqoub. Journalist, trainer, and researcher specializing in media affairs. He holds a PhD in Communication Philosophy from Regent University in the United States.محمد أبو عرقوب صحفي ومدرّب وباحث متخصص في شؤون الإعلام، حاصل على درجة الدكتوراه في فلسفة الاتّصال من جامعة ريجينت بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.
Mohammed Abuarqoub Published on: 20 Nov, 2025
Crisis of Credibility: How the Anglo-American Journalism Model Failed the World

Despite an unprecedented global flood of information, journalism remains strikingly impotent in confronting systemic crises—largely because the dominant Anglo-American model, shaped by commercial imperatives and capitalist allegiances, is structurally incapable of pursuing truth over power or effecting meaningful change. This critique calls for dismantling journalism’s subordination to market logic and imagining alternative models rooted in political, literary, and truth-driven commitments beyond the confines of capitalist production.

Imran Muzaffar
Imran Muzaffar, Aliya Bashir, Syed Aadil Hussain Published on: 14 Nov, 2025
Why Has Arab Cultural Journalism Weakened in the Third Millennium?

The crisis of cultural journalism in the Arab world reflects a deeper decline in the broader cultural and moral project, as well as the collapse of education and the erosion of human development. Yet this overarching diagnosis cannot excuse the lack of professional training and the poor standards of cultural content production within newsrooms.

Fakhri Saleh
Fakhri Saleh Published on: 10 Nov, 2025
Podcasters, content creators and influencers are not journalists. Are they?

Are podcasters, content creators, and influencers really journalists, or has the word 'journalist' been stretched so thin that it now covers anyone holding a microphone and an opinion? If there is a difference, where does it sit? Is it in method, mission, accountability, or something else? And in a media landscape built on noise, how do we separate a journalist from someone who produces content for clicks, followers or sponsors

Derick Matsengarwodzi
Derick Matsengarwodzi Published on: 7 Nov, 2025
The Power to Write History: How Journalism Shapes Collective Memory and Forgetting

What societies remember, and what they forget, is shaped not only by historians but by journalism. From wars to natural disasters, the news does not simply record events; it decides which fragments endure in collective memory, and which fade into silence.

Daniel Harper
Daniel Harper Published on: 30 Oct, 2025
Journalism in Spain: Why Omitting Ethnicity May Be Doing More Harm Than Good

In Spain, a well-intentioned media practice of omitting suspects’ ethnic backgrounds in crime reporting is now backfiring, fuelling misinformation, empowering far-right narratives, and eroding public trust in journalism.

Ilya إيليا توبر 
Ilya U Topper Published on: 10 Sep, 2025
Interview with Zina Q. : Digital Cartography as a Tool of Erasure in Gaza

Amid Israel’s war on Gaza, Zina Q. uncovers how Google Maps and satellite imagery are being manipulated; homes relabelled as “haunted,” map updates delayed, and evidence of destruction obscured, revealing digital cartography itself as a weapon of war. By exposing these distortions and linking them to conflicts from Sudan to Ukraine, she demonstrates how control over maps and AI surveillance influences not only what the world sees, but also what it remembers.

Al Jazeera Journalism Review
Al Jazeera Journalism Review Published on: 6 Sep, 2025
Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine: A Call to Name the Killer, Not Just the Crime

How many journalists have to be killed before we name the killer? What does press freedom mean if it excludes Palestinians? In its latest strike, Israel killed an entire Al Jazeera news crew in Gaza—part of a systematic campaign to silence the last witnesses to its crimes. Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine (CJJP) condemns this massacre and calls on the Canadian government to end its complicity, uphold international law, and demand full accountability. This is not collateral damage. This is the targeted erasure of truth.

Samira Mohyeddin
Samira Mohyeddin Published on: 14 Aug, 2025
Protecting Palestinian Journalists Should be First Priority - Above Western Media Access

Why demand entry for foreign reporters when Palestinian journalists are already risking—and losing—their lives to tell the truth? Real solidarity means saving journalists' lives, amplifying their voices, and naming the genocide they expose daily.

Synne Furnes Bjerkestrand
Synne Bjerkestrand, Kristian Lindhardt Published on: 10 Aug, 2025
The Washington Post: When Language Becomes a Veil for Pro-Israel Bias

How did The Washington Post's coverage differ between Israel’s bombing of Gaza hospitals and Iran’s strike on an Israeli hospital? Why does the paper attempt to frame Palestinian victims within a “complex operational context”? And when does language become a tool of bias toward the Israeli narrative?

Said Al-Azri
Said Al-Azri Published on: 6 Aug, 2025
In the War on Gaza: How Do You Tell a Human Story?

After nine months of genocidal war on Palestine, how can journalists tell human stories? Which stories should they focus on? And does the daily, continuous coverage of the war’s developments lead to a “normalisation of death”?

Yousef Fares
Yousef Fares Published on: 8 Jul, 2025
How Much AI is Too Much AI for Ethical Journalism

As artificial intelligence transforms newsrooms across South Asia, journalists grapple with the fine line between enhancement and dependency

Saurabh Sharma
Saurabh Sharma Published on: 1 Jul, 2025
How to Tell the Stories of Gaza’s Children

Where does compassion end and journalism begin? How can one engage with children ethically, and is it even morally acceptable to conduct interviews with them? Palestinian journalist Reem Al-Qatawy offers a profoundly different approach to human-interest reporting. At the Hope Institute in Gaza, she met children enduring the harrowing aftermath of losing their families. Her experience was marked by intense professional and ethical challenges.

Rima Al-Qatawi
Rima Al-Qatawi Published on: 26 Jun, 2025
Do Foreign Journalists Matter in Covering Genocide? A Look into Bosnia, Rwanda, and Gaza

How did foreign journalists cover the killings in both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda? Did they contribute to conveying the truth and making an impact? Would the entry of foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip change the reality of the ongoing genocide? And would their coverage of the famine and massacres add to the daily coverage of local journalists? Why is the local press's coverage of wars seen as deficient compared to Western journalism, even though they incur greater losses and casualties?

Saber Halima
Saber Halima Published on: 20 Jun, 2025
How Palestine Is Forcing Journalists to Reexamine Objectivity and Decolonize

This article argues that the Palestinian context exposes the colonial roots of traditional journalism and calls for a decolonial approach that centers marginalized voices, promotes collaborative reporting, and demands structural change within newsrooms to uphold journalistic integrity.

Sanne Breimer
Sanne Breimer Published on: 12 Jun, 2025