Maputo, March 23, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambique's oldest daily newspaper, Noticias, wants to continue being a communication school as it turns 100, betting on improving journalists' working conditions and its publishing and printing projects to flourish in the market.
"I think it is possible to start looking at Notícias from the perspective of being a seed for various things that have emerged in the communication area. But there is a perspective that is never lost, which is being a school where the media has, in some way, invented itself and grown," Júlio Manjate, the chair of the Sociedade do Notícias board, said in an interview with Lusa.
Headquartered in Maputo with around 150 journalists nationwide, Notícias first hit the streets on 15 April 1926, created by Portugal's Manuel Simoes Vaz. From the 1980s, after Mozambican independence, it began to include products such as the weeklies Domingo and Desafio, as well as a printing unit in Maputo province, southern Mozambique.
Over 100 years, the newspaper has aimed to contribute to well-being by providing responsible information, the manager said. "It has functioned as a school, not only for training professionals but also to inspire these new business areas and areas of intervention".
Three years ago, it began focusing on publishing services and has already published two works, with four more in the pipeline. Manjate explained that it did not intend to "run before it can walk," despite the focus on new authors.
He added that the company continues to study the market but always views the new business "with caution".
"First, it was necessary to create a base, and we are somewhat in this exercise of trying to create a solid base so that things can grow. We need human resources solely dedicated to working, and this has financial implications," he explained.
"We must not lose sight of the idea that as we enter a new business area, we cannot get ahead of ourselves. It is always better to act with some prudence and know that there are people already working in the area for much longer, and always seek what can be gained from that. It is a very interesting brand, nobody refuses to collaborate with us," Manjate added.
To galvanise its publishing activities, Notícias wants to combine this service with the printing plant in Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo.
On reaching 100 years, adapting the morning paper to different historical moments while maintaining its "responsible work" philosophy was one of the greatest challenges.
"There are times when the newspaper's role was public education. There were times when the newspaper began providing civic education to help people accept multi-party politics, and this was done with due skill. And now, for example, we are doing public education work, so people understand we are in a phase of betting on economic recovery, and we try to adjust according to the main messages," the chair said.
Another challenge for the company was training journalists to develop stronger skills in reading and interpreting phenomena around them, especially as technological advances advanced.
"Notícias newspaper lives on its own resources. Everything it does to buy paper, to print, to pay journalists, to have journalists travel. We are not a public company that would probably have a programme contract with the state to receive subsidies. Everything that has been done is based on its own resources, so getting resources to maintain, grow and develop is also another challenge," he said.
Currently, the objective is still to improve journalists' salaries to a "somewhat more dignified" level. The company indicated it wanted to move into multimedia, needing only to find a strategy to fit the newspaper into a digital world dominated by social media without losing its identity and responsibility for information.
Manjate also said that the current challenge is to improve journalists' technical conditions, providing them with tools for research, dissemination, and content distribution. He hopes everyone will be able to operate graphic editing software to force them to reduce the number of characters in each text.
PME/LYT // ADB.
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