State media group reviews newspaper subscription plan

An official said this was due to the escalating cost of inputs.

“Newsprint prices have been going up regularly yet the prices for subscription can be fixed for three months without an upward review. This meant we were subsidising the purchase of newspapers by subscribers,” a subscription official said.

In a notice sent to subscribers on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, Zimpapers said, “Owing to the current challenging economic environment, we have introduced a new subscription system which shall operate on a prepaid deposit system to replace the old subscription system.”

“The new system, which shall commence on 25th April, is simple and straightforward”.

The notice said the day's ruling cover price of a newspaper would be deducted from the account of a subscriber every time a newspaper was delivered, reducing the balance in the customer's account.

“For our current existing valuable subscribers, your subscriptions will be transferred as the initial deposit on the 25th April, 2008 and we encourage you to top up your balance,” the notice said.

Zimpapers was the only newspaper group that remained with a three-month subscription terms for its customers after independent newspapers reduced subscription periods due to escalating costs.

The Financial Gazette, the weekly business newspaper published on Thursdays, was the first to cut maximum subscription from three months to one month before the close of 2007.

Munn Marketing, the biggest newspaper distribution company in the country, also subsequently cut down its maximum subscription periods to one month.

Munn distributes The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard newspapers, published on Fridays and Sundays respectively, as well as South Africa's Sunday Times, Mail & Guardian, The Saturday Star, The Sunday Independent and Wednesday's edition of The Star.