Johannesburg

Media

Home to daily newspapers, major weeklies, and the country's national television broadcasting service, Johannesburg is a major media center. The Johannesburg Star (circulation 206,000) , an evening paper published seven days a week, is the major English-language daily. The Sowetan (circulation 225,000) , South Africa's top-selling daily newspaper, is targeted primarily to a black audience and is available throughout the country. The most authoritative news source is the Weekly Mail & Guardian (circulation 30,000). It is affiliated with and draws most of its international coverage from London's Guardian newspaper. Business Day (circulation 41,000) , also published in Johannesburg, is South Africa's major business daily. The Citizen is a conservative English-language daily. Afrikaans newspapers include Beeld and Rapport.

The government-supported South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) operates three public television channels. One broadcasts mostly in English while the other two divide their time among South Africa's remaining ten official languages. News and sports programming and movies are available to viewers who subscribe to the M-Net satellite television service. The SABC also offers both AM and FM radio programming. Voice of America English-language broadcasts can also be heard in Johannesburg. As part of a nationwide telecommunications expansion, licenses for over 30 new radio stations were granted for Gauteng Province in 1995, most of them in Johannesburg. Notable for their quality musical and/or public affairs programming are Johannesburg's Greek and Portuguese stations and stations in the black townships of Soweto and Alexandra.