Johannesburg- Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM), which is buying Independent News and Media (INM), will reveal details of its consortium on Thursday, chairman Iqbal Surve told e-News Channel Africa (eNCA).
“We have committed to announcing the details of the consortium and funding partners...” he said in a televised interview on Wednesday.
“Many of our newspaper competitors have been trying to make a story here... I wouldn't expect anything less from them.”
Answering a question, Surve said there was no reason why it would not be critical of government or any other organisation in its reporting.
“I don't think there would be any reason why there would not be critical reporting of government... we need diverse views and diverse opinion,” he said.
“Lets have balance... and objectivity.”
At the end of May, SIM said the deal announcement was necessary after “much speculation”.
SIM said in a statement that while it had committed to making the announcement after its general meeting “this has been deliberately ignored and misrepresented in the media, especially by competitors of INM”.
On May 22, Wits journalism professor Anton Harber wrote in a column that Surve was being secretive about the purchase.
Harber said there was no clarity on how the R2 billion purchase was being funded.
There was major public interest in who owned and funded the group at a time when the Print Media Transformation Task Group was looking into diversity of print media ownership.
The African National Congress had expressed concerns about monopolies in the industry. - Sapa