The development and sustainability of indigenous African language newspapers : ba case study of Seipone, Nthavela and Ngoho News

Abstract

There is a conspicuous importance of having newspapers that publish in the indigenous African languages for the indigenous population in a democratic dispensation. The indigenous African languages are key components of their respective cultures. The survival of the language is, in some way, dependent on the print media (newspapers) (Salawu, 2004:8). In addition, the indigenous language newspapers have cardinal roles of promoting previously marginalised languages, preserving indigenous cultures and upholding democracy. Nevertheless, these newspapers are struggling to sustain themselves in the print media industry. It is, therefore, critically important to examine the factors that adversely affect the sustainability of these newspapers.