Impact of Covid 19 on Media Sustainability https://zimbabwe.misa.org Innovation in the face of adversity Resilience and renewal Most studies of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the news media paint a bleak picture. Yet an examination of news media in the region shows surprising resilience and innovation. Several new publications have been launched and existing publications have been forced, perhaps belatedly, to adjust rapidly to a new environment. Closure of news outlets and consolidation through mergers and acquisitions may occur. Yet these are not necessarily to the detriment of media pluralism and diversity, since the disappearance of news outlets sometimes leaves the media ecosystem better off. The closure of supposedly independent The New Age newspaper and the ANN7 channel, formerly owned by the key architects of State capture corruption, the Gupta family, come to mind.107 Some State-owned media in the region could be replaced by effective PR departments. The crisis has also compelled companies involved in news to restructure operations. In South Africa, For example, Caxton & CTP closed at the same time as shutting its magazine publishing and distribution divisions, its CD and DVD replication plant. Media24, as already noted, drastically reduced the print distribution of its tabloid Sun newspaper. New products Launching a new news product during a crisis may seem strange, but that is exactly what has happened in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In Zimbabwe, Newshawks launched in October, “a new multichannel investigative journalism 107. Anton Harber, “The New Age Experiment: Government’s Attempt to Control the Media Has Done Industry No Favours,” The Media Online (blog), July 9, 2018, //themediaonline.co.za/2018/07/ the-new-age-experiment- governments-attempt-to-control-the-media-has-done-industry-no-favours/. 30