SECTOR 4 houses subeditors, designers, proof-readers. There are also shared photographic departments that serve multiple titles. This streamlining is having some noticeably adverse effects. Mentoring skills are lost: a subeditor who would previously have had a face-to-face chat with a reporter over flaws in an article submitted will not do this over the phone – and not have the time to do it anyway. The same sub in the centralised office will also not have sufficient local knowledge to check the facts, resulting in too many factual errors. The group, like Avusa, used to have a very good library which was an excellent resource for journalists, enabling them to check facts and go far back on an issue to help contextualise it. As a result of the streamlining process these libraries were closed down and the intention to digitalise them never materialised. A rich history of information and context has thus been obliterated. The concept behind IP may be sound when the motivation is to maximise profits through centralisation, as less people are employed to do more work. In practice, it certainly does not improve the content and thus does not benefit consumers. To improve the situation, media houses are once again running cadet courses, but the supply is too small to really meet the demand. The cadet course at the Independent group, for example, can only take twelve participants at a time. These courses also do not address the deficiencies of journalists already working in newsrooms. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator. 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.0 (2008 = 2.9; 2006 = 2.8) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2010 61