https://zimbabwe.misa.org Impact of Covid 19 on Media Sustainability project (thenewshawks.com)”. The board of new outlet comprises Zimbabweans with a record of standing up for press freedom and its articulation of its principles is impressive, encompassing clearly stated ideas of professionalism and ethics.108 The articles published at launch are equally impressive in, for instance, multisourcing and tackling hard subjects such as the accuracy Zimbabwe’s inflation rate. On inflation, Newshawks, for example has published an opinion piece that finds Zimbabwe is not suffering hyper-inflation, a surprising idea that might be dismissed coming from a slavishly pro-government news organisation.109 What the crisis appears to have achieved here is to make the founders of this publication think hard about what exactly journalism is supposed to achieve and how it is supposed to do so.110 and e-paper, and a range of multimedia services. Mugamo says the ambition of the newspaper is telling the truth in a “highly polarized, highly politicized environment”. He adds, “We’re trying to amplify different voices from different communities”.111 Another notable entrant in the Zimbabwean space is 263 Chat, which typifies a disruptive online startup, and is now around eight years old. Its main innovation is to have an e-paper circulated on WhatsApp. The founder, Nigel Mugamo, explains the e-paper was launched “three years ago in November before the coupnot-coup” because many younger people in Zimbabwe have limited access to data, and for them, “WhatsApp is actually the internet”. He claims the e-paper is circulated for free to more than 43 000 subscribers, which he says is double the circulation of the four major publications in Zimbabwe. The organisation has plans for an SMS news service, for which it will charge, but for now relies on advertising, both on its website The WhatsApp circulation of another innovative product, The Continent, published in partnership with South Africa’s independent Mail & Guardian, was sparked by 263 Chat’s e-paper. The Continent publishes articles about Africa, generally written by journalists in those countries. The launch issue on 18 April 2020 stated: “We cannot deliver a physical newspaper to you, which is why we have chosen this unusual format – so we can reach you instantly, wherever you may be confined. The Continent is designed to be read on smartphones and shared on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook.”112 The newspaper won the 2020 World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Best News Website or Mobile Service award. The Judges noted: “Placing the Continent on WhatsApp represents the bold thinking which these desperate media times call for - it not only exploits an existing digital advantage but also responds to a peculiarly African opportunity, i.e. the widespread use of WhatsApp among communities sharing information under severe government restriction. For a cross-border product, there couldn’t have been a more suitable platform.”113 The Continent, being an e-paper edition created from scratch rather than an exact reproduction of the newspaper pages in a format such as PDF or e-book which can be distributed 108. “The NewsHawks Have Landed,” accessed October 17, 2020, https://thenewshawks.com/the-newshawks- have-landed/. 109. Mpofu, “Hanke Queries Zim Inflation Statistics,” October 16, 2020, https://thenewshawks.com/ hanke- queries-zim-inflation-statistics/. 110. “The NewsHawks Have Landed.” 111. Media Sustainability in Eastern and Southern Africa Webinar. 112“Welcome to the Continent,” The Continent, April 18, 2020. 113. Nick Tjaardstra, “Winners Announced for the African Digital Media Awards 2020,” World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, September 8, 2020, https://www.wan-ifra.org/press- releases/2020/09/08/ winners-announced-for-the-african-digital-media-awards-2020. 31