South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where a number of facets of the print media operate together within one organisation. Print Media South Africa (PMSA) formerly known as the Print Media Association was formed in 1996 after the restructuring of the Newspaper Press Union. The purpose of Print Media SA is to represent, promote, express interact and intervene in all matters concerning the collective industry and matters of common interest to members. Representing over 700 newspaper and magazine titles in South Africa, PMSA is organised into three specific, focused operating bodies which addresses the specific needs of the respective industry sectors:
Newspaper Association of South Africa (NASA) - formerly known as the Newspaper Press Union was founded in November 1882 making it the oldest communication industry association in South Africa. NASA membership comprises 43 urban and metropolitan daily, weekly, twice weekly and monthly newspapers, published in English, Afrikaans and Chinese. It represents all the titles of South Africa's four major newspaper publishing groups - Avusa, Independent News & Media (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Media 24 Ltd and Caxton & CTP Publishers & Printers Ltd.
Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA) was formed late in 2000 as a result of a merger between the Specialist Press Association (SPA), established in 1965, and the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA), established in 1996. MPASA represents the interests of custom, consumer and business-to-business magazine publishers in South Africa. It represents about 400 magazine titles in South Africa and the major consumer magazine role-players involved in the affairs of the association is Media 24 Ltd, Caxton Publishers & Printers Ltd, Avusa, Associated Magazines (Pty) Ltd and Ramsay Son and Parker (Pty) Ltd.
Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) - formerly known as the Community Press Association of Southern Africa. At the association's Annual General Meeting held in September 2003, the major publishing groups decided to withdraw from the CPA and take up membership in NASA. The main reason for their withdrawal was to offer truly independent publishers a platform to transform the association into an industry body looking after their specific interests. Following the withdrawal, a review process was undertaken to identify the needs of independent publishers, and to determine how the CPA could be restructured to meet this objective. On September 18, 2004 the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) was established in Johannesburg at a plenary summit of independent grassroots publishers from across South Africa. The new regional umbrella body incorporates South Africa's 125 year old Community Press Association (CPA) and the Independent Media Alliance (IMA) lobby group, and has been accepted as a constituent member of the PMSA cluster of media advocacy associations. AIP currently represents over 350 members and intends to represent the majority of South Africa's small independent newspapers. AIP seeks to become the primary clearing house for research, policy debate and the setting of industry standards for the grassroots media sector.
