Free State & Northern Cape Publications

BloemNews is a prominent newspaper in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State province in South Africa.

BloemNews serves the local community with coverage of regional news, events, and issues of interest. The newspaper provides updates on a variety of topics, including local politics, business, sports, and social matters, with a focus on the city and surrounding areas.

Its publication is a reflection of Bloemfontein’s vibrant community, catering to both English and Afrikaans-speaking readers.

It also serves as an important platform for local advertising, businesses, and public announcements. In Bloemfontein, BloemNews is often considered a key source of information.

We are committed to supporting and uplift the community through reporting, human interest stories and news that shine a light on both the challenges and triumphs of the communities in our distribution area.

• Kersfonds: Through this decade old Charity Fund, BloemNews supported 22 charities to the amount of R450 0000 (2024).
• Carols with the Stars: We partner annually with Pick’nPay Preller Walk and co-host Carols with the Stars. An evening filled with Christmas Carols, fun and laughter. Entrance to the show is non-perishables that were donated to Dr Böhmer School, Mooihawe Old Age Home and Guardian & Angel.
• Sunflower House Drive: In 2024, we gathered and supplied blankets, toiletries, food, snacks and nappies for the children cared for in Sunflower Hospice. These children all have life threatening diseases.
• Mandela Day 2024: The team visited Wonderland Pre-Primary School and treated the children with cupcakes, sandwiches, cold drinks, scarfs and beanies.
• Community Clean-Up Initiative: In October 2024 we joined hands with the Westdene Neighbourhood Association and helped to clean up the new Westdene Park Conservatory.
• Engo Bowling Day: We held our second bowling day for Engo Project of Hope on 6 September 2024, with 96 players and an auction at the end of the day. We raised R35 000 for Engo.
• Charity Project with Bloem Show: Collecting and distributing Beanies and Scarfs to needy communities.
• Charity Project with Bloem Show: School Colouring competition (in 2023  a separate colouring competition was held for children with mental disabilities).
• Community Events: Coverage of festivals, gatherings, and celebrations happening in Bloemfontein and surroundings.
• Business Spotlight: Highlighting local businesses that contribute to our area’s vibrant economy. Reported on the first The Entrepreneur competition sponsored by ACSA.
• Media Sponsor: Wesgrow High School Sport Series
• Media Sponsor: Dr Visser Potjiekos Competition 2024
• Media Sponsor: Bloemfontein Airshow 2024
• Media Sponsor: De Oude Kraal Venison Festival 2024
• Media Sponsor: Skaap en Bier-Fees 2024
• Media Sponsor: Monte Bello Wine & Gin Festival 2024
• Media Sponsor: Mimosa Mall Marathon (Comrades and Two Oceans qualifier) 2025
• Media Sponsor: ATKV  Gemeenskaps Teatertak #Weesdieverskil-fees 2024
• Media Sponsor: Cars in the Park 2024
• Media Sponsor: Engo (Projek van hoop) 2024
• Media Sponsor: Free State Sport Stars awards in collaboration with the University of the Free State 2024

BloemExpress is a community newspaper based in Bloemfontein, dedicated to providing local news, events, and stories that matter to the residents of the city and surrounding areas.

Known for its engaging content, the newspaper covers a range of topics, from current affairs and local politics to sports, entertainment, and human interest stories.

BloemExpress serves as an important source of information, fostering a strong connection with the community by highlighting both the successes and challenges faced by its readers since 1991.

We are committed to supporting and uplift the community through reporting, human interest stories and news that shine a light on both the challenges and triumphs of the communities in our distribution area.

• Sunflower House Drive: In 2024, we gathered and supplied blankets, toiletries, food, snacks and nappies for the children cared for in Sunflower House. These children all have life threatening diseases.
• Mandela Day 2024: The team visited Wonderland Pre-Primary school and treated the children with cupcakes, sandwiches, cold drinks, scarfs and beanies.
• Agricultural Days: Partner with African Farming
• ENGO: Projek van Hoop (Story of Hope editorials)
• Media Sponsor: Wesgrow High School Sport Series
• Media Sponsor: Free State Sport Stars awards in collaboration with the University of the Free State 2024

The NoordkaapBulletin is a regional newspaper based in Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape of South Africa. It has a long-standing history of serving the community with news and information pertinent to the region.

It covers a variety of topics, including local politics, business, sports, and news related to human affairs and nature, with a focus on the entire Northern Cape, which is not only South Africa’s largest and most sparsely populated province, but also one of the most resource rich.

NoordkaapBulletin also provides content related to the agriculture and mining industries, which are key sectors in the province’s economy. It serves as an important platform for community events as well. The newspaper, distributed in the capital and more than 20 towns, is also read online in other parts of the vast province, and has been an important source of information for residents of the Northern Cape.

The publication is geared towards Afrikaans and English-speaking readers, with the content reflecting the cultural diversity of the province. Like the other regional newspapers in South Africa, NoordkaapBulletin has had to adapt to changing media landscapes, including the rise of digital news platforms. However, it remains a significant part of the media landscape in the Northern Cape, helping to keep communities informed and connected.

NoordkaapBulletin is committed to inform, educate, and entertain its readers in its vast communities through reliable reporting and advertisements that amongst other, help in the upliftment of the community with a firm vision on a better future. The challenges and triumphs of the communities are of equal importance, while keeping a standard of trustworthiness. This is all done through a combination of advertisements, editorial content, and the use of digital platforms.

• For the past few years, NoordkaapBulletin is the printed media sponsor of the annual Yonder Hartsfees. This festival is the main fundraising event for Yonder, which is part of the Northern Cape Mental Health Society. In the Yonder programme, more than 250 adults with an intellectual disability are trained in basic skills, each to its own ability. With this training, these adults get a chance to earn an income, while experiencing dignity. For weeks before the festival, a media-plan is carefully compiled for the use of advertisements and editorial content.
• NoordkaapBulletin is also the printed media sponsor of the annual women’s event of the Dutch Reformed Church Bakenskop in Kimberley.  A few hundred women attend this event, which raise funds for the different projects that the church is involved in. Advertisements, as well as editorial content are used.
• The newspaper was also involved actively in spreading the message of a world-class mobile breast cancer screening unit, Screen Her Save Her, that toured through the Northern Cape. At this unit, even woman who cannot afford to pay for screening, can be assisted.  Advertisements as well as editorial content in the printed edition and online was used.
• NoordkaapBulletin also has an agreement with TM Communications, which serves as the voice for some of the country’s leading utility-scale independent power producers, such as wind and solar farms in the Northern Cape. While contributing to the newspaper’s revenue, the life-changing community projects that these utilities run on an ongoing scale in the Northern Cape communities, are also used as human-interest stories in the newspaper.  
• NoordkaapBulletin was also the media sponsor of the Wesgrow Sentrale Skole Sportreeks, during which schools in the Free State and Northern Cape compete in rugby, hockey, and netball. Since 2018, this series focus on mass-involvement of sport on school-level in the platteland. Participation in this series is increasing. 
• Media Sponsor: Free State Sport Stars awards in collaboration with the University of the Free State 2024

In 2024, NoordkaapBulletin was announced as the winner in the category: Best Free Newspaper of the Year for 2023 at the annual AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards. The newspaper’s editor, Helena Barnard, and Charné Kemp, a freelance journalist who contribute on a weekly basis to editorial content, are the only journalists at the paper.

• Its editor, Barnard, was a finalist in the following FCJ categories: Digital Reporting; Photography News; and Photography General.
• In 2024, Kemp was a regional winner in the Sustainability category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year competition, and received a special mention award in the national Features category. 
• In 2023, Barnard was the regional winner in the Features category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year competition, while Kemp was the regional winner in the Politics category.
• In the same year, Barnard was announced as the winner in the Digital Reporting category at the annual AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards for 2022 and had a joint third place in the category: Journalist of the Year. She was also a finalist in the following categories: Editorial Comment; Human Interest; and Photography: News.
• In the same year and same FCJ competition, Kemp was a finalist in the following categories: Journalist of the Year; Human Interest; Photographer of the Year; Photography: News; and Investigative Journalism. 
• In 2022, Barnard received second place in the category: Human Interest at the annual AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards for 2021. She was also a finalist in the following categories: Editorial Comments; Hard News; and Sport.
• In the same year, NoordkaapBulletin was a finalist in the following categories: Best Front Page (corporate-owned free newspapers); and Newspaper of the Year (corporate free newspaper, fewer than 24 pages).

Vista is a regional newspaper based in Welkom, the capital of Matjhabeng Municipality, in the central Free State. Vista, an English/Afrikaans publication, first brought news to the community on 23 April 1971, with the following message on the front page: “We are here to write about the Goldfield and its people.

We are here to serve the area in which we find ourselves, and with the help of our readers – who refine us with their constructive criticism. Vista is a newspaper which each citizen of Matjhabeng claims as their own, irrespective of race or creed. Regardless of political, economic, and social changes – not to mention technological changes – this relationship between Vista, its readers and business partners still holds true today, 54 years later. Through it all, Vista graciously accepted changes and ensured that the news reaches the community it serves. 

But what makes Vista so special in the hearts of readers, business partners and even critics? The answer is simple. Vista does exactly what is contained in its name: It offers its readers an extensive view (vista) of the news of the day.

Vista serves the residents of Matjhabeng Municipality, a local municipality within the Lejweleputswa District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. The municipality includes Welkom (Thabong, Bronville), Virginia (Meloding), Odendaalsrus  (Kutloanong), Ventersburg (Mamahabane) and Allanridge (Nyakallong).

The area covered is 5 155 square kilometres. Vista distributes 30 000 newspapers every Thursday, to households in the region. Vista is also read online and is prominently featured on Facebook and Instagram. Vista boasts an editorial and advertising team with more than 188 years combined service. The longest serving staff members have 39, 36 and 35 years continual service with the newspaper. 

Vista is committed to supporting and uplifting the community through in-depth reporting, feature stories, and investigative pieces that shine a light on both the challenges and triumphs of the communities in our distribution area. This is all done through a combination of advertisements, editorial content, and the use of digital platforms.

• Vista is the media sponsor of:
  • The Odensia Night Race
  • The MediClinic Welkom Vista Eskom Athletics Club Free State Womens Race (since establishment 23 years ago)
  • The Face of Mr and Miss Matjhabeng
  • The Central Bike Burn at Phakisa FreeWay
  • The Goldfields Game Ranch Trail Run
• Vista has been instrumental in the establishment of community projects like Sonskyn Projek (helps and feeds the unemployed for more than 30 years)
• Claws (animal welfare that was established in 2002) and House of Hope (established in 2004)
• Vista was also the media sponsor of the Wesgrow Sentrale Skole Sportreeks, during which schools in the Free State and Northern Cape compete in rugby, hockey, and netball. Since 2018, this series focus on mass-involvement of sport on school-level in the platteland. Participation in this series is increasing.
• Media Sponsor: Free State Sport Stars awards in collaboration with the University of the Free State 2024

• In 2024 Marti Will, the editor of Vista, was a finalist in the category: Hard News at the annual AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards.
• In the same year  Will was in the Top 10 in the categories Human Interest and Vista was in the Top 10 of the category front pages in 2024.
• In 2023, Will was a regional winner in the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards: Category Life Style for her article about the Khoisan in Matjhabeng.
• In 2022 Will was a finalist in the Category: Sport, at the annual AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards and in 2023 she was among the Top Ten of the category Sport in the FCJ