News24, South Africa’s largest and most trusted news platform, today announced the launch of a new digital subscription service that will be available to readers from August 8.

Breaking news will remain free-to-read.

A subscription will cost R75 per month and will give readers access to additional investigative and in-depth journalism, as well as a range of informed opinions, analysis and views on news, politics, sport, business and lifestyle.

A subscription will further include access to the best of Media24’s journalism from City Press, You, Drum and True Love magazines’ digital editions.

“This is a historic moment for all of us at News24; something we’ve been dying to tell our more than 13-million unique users about since we started this journey to build a sustainable model for quality journalism almost two years ago,” said News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson.

In addition to in-depth journalism, News24’s subscription service will also introduce exciting new features, such as the ability to post comments, listen to articles, share subscriber-only articles with friends and choose from a bouquet of premium newsletters.

The move is in line with a growing international trend to charge for online news content as part of the industry’s evolution to a new, sustainable model.

“We have invested in journalism and grew our newsroom at a dark time for media companies and journalists. With the unfortunate decline of print publications, we need to ensure that we build a sustainable future for digital journalism to keep power to account and strengthen democracy,” said Basson. “I invite you to join us on this exciting journey towards creating a sustainable environment for quality digital journalism to flourish.”

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