South Africa's Earliest Newspapers Made Money from Slavery: Book Offers New Evidence

During the era of Cape slavery, which lasted from 1652 to 1838, the first newspapers in South Africa played a significant role in perpetuating the institution. A new book, Reconsidering the History of South African Journalism: The Ghost of the Slave Press, reveals that several early newspapers and magazines actively contributed to the slave trade by publishing advertisements and notices. This is contrary to the traditional narrative that positions the press as a champion of press freedom and a liberal institution.

Key Takeaways:

• The Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser / Kaapsche Stads Courant en Afrikaansche Berigter, founded in 1800, was owned by slave traders Alexander Walker and John Robertson, who dealt in as many as 600 slaves in a single consignment.
• The paper's format, which became a template for future newspapers, included government news, commercial advertising, and public announcements, with snippets of international and local news.
• Enslaved persons worked as assistants to the press.
• The South African Commercial Advertiser, founded in 1824, actively contributed to the slave trade by allowing the publication of slave advertisements from the start and was owned by the editor, George Greig, who owned at least one enslaved person.
• Historian Wessel de Kock's book on the origins of the South African press describes the South African Commercial Advertiser as a liberal champion of the "free press," but this portrayal is complex and influenced by the slave trade.
• Slave ownership was not limited to the Cape Dutch; prominent individuals involved with newspapers, including William Bridekirk and Louis Henri Meurant, were also slave owners.
• The legacy of the early press in the Cape colony is marked by compromise and a struggle for liberation, with newspapers often following public opinion rather than leading.