This follows after the printed edition of the newspaper was already discontinued in December 2024. (Photo: X/City Press)
Media24 confirmed on Friday that it has begun a consultation process with the staff of City Press to permanently close the publication’s remaining digital newsroom.
This follows after the printed edition of the newspaper was already discontinued in December 2024. Since then, City Press has only existed as an online brand on the News24 platform, but Media24 now plans to end this digital version as well.
Minette Ferreira, CEO of Media24 Media, explained in a statement to News24 why the group made this decision.
“We can confirm that this morning (Friday) we began consultations with the City Press staff, with the intention of closing this newsroom. As a digital newsroom, which was incorporated into News24 after the closure of the print edition in 2024 as part of our transformation to a digitally-led enterprise, City Press has not met our expectations.”
City Press was founded in 1982 and was a well-known Sunday newspaper for decades. However, due to declining circulation numbers, Media24 decided to close the print version at the end of 2024. At the same time, the printed editions of Image, Rapport, Daily Sun in Volksblad also discontinued.
While publications such as Beeld and Rapport moved to the Netwerk24 platform, City Press was managed as a digital division within News24.
The parent company, Naspers, reported a loss of $10 million (before interest and tax) for the six months to the end of September 2025. Although this is an improvement on the loss of $14 million in the previous year, the financial pressure on the group’s media departments remains high.
There are currently more than two dozen employees working at City Press. Ferreira indicated that the group will try to limit job losses as much as possible during the consultation process.