SAFRICA-MEDIA-NEWSPAPER

A technician operates a printing machine used to print the Noordwester, the Messenger and the Oewernuus, at the newspapers offices' in Calvinia on November 23, 2022. - Every Thursday morning for the last four decades, 89-year-old Francois Hugo would get in his trusted Fiat Multipla and set off from Calvinia to make a 1200km roundtrip, hand delivering about 1300 copies of his newspapers, The Messenger, Die Noordwester and Die Oewernuus, across the small towns of the Karoo. The Messenger, previously known as the Victoria West Messenger, was founded in July 1875, while Die Noordwester and Die Oewernuus were also founded in the early 1900s. Hugo, his wife, Maxie, and four assistants have been keeping the legacy of these small Karoo-town newspapers alive in an age where newspapers and newsrooms have been shrinking across the world. While many newspaper publishers have been trying to figure out how to survive in a digital age, where advertising revenue is being eaten up by large Internet giants such as Google and Facebook, Hugo scoffs at those consuming their news online. People like Hugo arent an uncommon sight in the towns of the Karoo, home to quirky and out of time characters. His disdain for the cellphone and internet consumption of news is visible throughout the newspaper offices where the original Heidelberg printing presses, paper guillotines, and piles of printers trays are still displayed in the offices. The operation has embraced somewhat newer technology, using computers and software from the early 90s instead of the ancient Heidelberg press. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP) (Photo by MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images)