Newzimbabwe.com, a UK-based Zimbabwean news website, will launch a weekly newspaper on 7 July, writes Gugu Ziyaphapha.
The New Zimbabwe will be a red top tabloid, with celebrity, human interest, business, political and sports stories.
It will be aimed mainly at Southern Africans based in the UK but giving special attention to Zimbabweans and South Africans.
Publishers New Zimbabwe Media is headed by exiled and former Daily News journalist, Mduduzi Mathuthu.
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He said: “As a natural progression, we have reached that stage where we need to explore opportunities in the print industry. The growth of Zimbabwean companies in the diaspora affords us a unique opportunity to reach out to them and deliver their products and services to their target market in a way that was previously never imagined.
“We want to be part of the development of Zimbabwean businesses in the diaspora, and the professional advance of Zimbabweans every step of the way. The paper will celebrate the success of Zimbabweans in the diaspora, and raise the profiles of our new heroes and heroines. That’s what New Zimbabwe is all about, raising hope from the decaying politics of our current rulers.â€ÂÂ
The new paper will be published and distributed across the UK. It will be distributed for free in some parts of the UK.
In Zimbabwe and South Africa, a small number of copies will initially be available to subscribers.
Mathuthu says the harsh press laws and the current economic climate makes it difficult for The New Zimbabwe to be published in Zimbabwe.
“The situation will be constantly under review, and hopefully, we will get it to Zimbabwe one day. Zimbabwe is ultimately where the dawn of the New Zimbabwe will crack, and we want to be part of that process,†he said.
Newzimbabwe.com is the first commercially viable Zimbabwean news website. It went online in June 2003.
Alexa.com, a web information and rankings company, says newzimbabwe.com has an average of 500 000 hits per day, which means the website commands the biggest market share of Zimbabwean news, with a bigger audience than the government controlled Herald newspaper.
Mathuthu says: “Newzimbabwe.com has been an emotionally and physically draining adventure, but everyone who works or contributes to the site has worked their socks off in an honest fashion.
“Where others have been cushioned by funding by wealthy foreign organisations and governments, we have had to scrape by using very limited resources. It is true that God rewards honest effort, because newzimbabwe.com’s continued success is living proof of that.â€ÂÂ
New Zimbabwe Media say the online and print versions will have different editorial content and teams.
The paper will be the second such venture, following The Zimbabwean which is run by another exiled former Daily News journalist, Wilf Mbanga who is also based in the UK.
