Talking to the Mail & Guardian ...

Find our offices... Online map: Google Earth map: Newspaper subscriptions If you would like to subscribe to the M&G newspaper, or if you want to query your current subscription, then click here. Newspaper contacts Phone: +27 (0)11 250 7300 Fax: +27 (0)11 250 7503 Cape Town: +27 (0)21 425 9028 Fax: +27 (0)21 425 9056 +27 (0)86 602 1853 Email: - Advertising (Cape) - Arts - Arts/entertainment listings - Books - Classifieds - Letters - Newsdesk - Ombud - Photography - Sports - Finance - Sub-editors Website contacts: Phone: +27 (0)11 250 7300 Advertising: +27 (0)11 250 7355 Fax: +27 (0)11 250 7502 Email: - Website editor - Technical issues - Advertising Addresses: Go postal: PO Box 91667 Auckland Park Johannesburg 2006 South Africa Go physical: Grosvenor Corner 195 Jan Smuts Avenue (corner of Seventh Ave) Rosebank Johannesburg South Africa

Start here ...

Please take a moment to read through this page if you wish to correspond with us -- doing so will reduce the chance that your message will go astray.

The M&G is both a newspaper and a website, the M&G Online. Nic Dawes is the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and Chris Roper is the editor of the website.

Letters that appear in the paper will automatically appear on the website, but the reverse does not necessarily apply.

Take action

The Mail & Guardian

• Send a letter to the newspaper.
• Suggest a news story to the newspaper. If you want to write it, see below.
• Submit a feature or comment piece to the newspaper.
• Submit a listing for the arts and entertainment pages.
• Advertise or get a rate card for the M&G Online.
• Advertise or get a rate card for the newspaper.
• Submit a classified ad for the newspaper.

The M&G Online and its partner sites

• Send a letter to the website.
• Suggest a news story to the website. If you want to write it, see below.
• Submit a feature or comment piece to the website.
• Ask a question about the website.
• Submit a listing for The Guide.
• Report a technical problem on the website, such as a broken link.
• Advertise or get a rate card for the website. Also read our advertising page.

Other issues

• Complain to the ombudsman about an article, the website or the newspaper.
• Apply for an internship at the M&G newspaper or the M&G Online.
• Read the history of the newspaper and the website.

Your problems and questions

• "I want to change my email address/unsubscribe from the daily emailed newsletter that I am receiving."
• "The comments below articles and blogs are offensive, frequently racist and a disgrace to a paper of your erstwhile calibre."
• "I completely disagree with what someone has written on one of your blogs."
• "I want to unsubscribe from Newsflash on my PC."
• "I want to write for you."
• "I am a PR officer and want you to place a press release."
• "I or my organisation would like to make use of, or reproduce, some of your copy."
• "I want to get in touch with so-and-so from Johannesburg/Nigeria -- do you know them?"
• "I'm working on a school project and want you to send me information about Africa."

Unsubscribing from daily emailed newsletters:
Open up the newsletter, click on the "Unsubscribe" link at the top of the newsletter and follow the instructions.

Comment racism and other problems:
We share your distress at many of the comments made on the open forum. Unfortunately, deleting such comments by any kind of automated system would, we believe, do damage to the speech of those brave souls who persist in holding coherent discussions amid the irrational fury that rages around them.

We don't have the resources to edit out all the most extreme comments manually -- we are happy to observe that other forum participants usually respond appropriately to them, either with ridicule or by ignoring them. If we do notice offensive comments, or if our attention is called to them, we will delete them.

Blogs:
The M&G Online's blogging site, Amagama, is independent of the website and functions as a standalone blogging platform. We don't edit blogs, unless authors post illegal content, such as child pornography. However, if a blog offends you and you don't know what to do about it, tell us.

NewsFlash:
Our nifty NewsFlash application works only on PCs (sorry about that, Mac users) and only with Internet Explorer (sorry, Firefox fans). If you don't want our news headlines popping up on your desktop any more, simply click on Start, choose "Programs" and then "Mail and Guardian Newsflash", and click on "Uninstall".

Writing for the M&G:
The M&G Online, like many internet publications, is operating on an extremely slender budget. Though we do not have a budget for freelance contributions, you may submit your contribution nonetheless -- an exception can always be made for excellent writing. You may also be able to interest the M&G newspaper in your work.

PLEASE DON'T just write saying you want to write for us. Rather send a 100-word (at most) outline of a proposed article, a 10-line (or shorter) summary of your experience and an example of your previous work (preferably, an internet link to the page and publication in which it appears).

Please bear in mind that if we do accept work from you, you will be paid in South African rand, a currency currently trading at about R7 to the United States dollar. Our standard rate is about R1 a word.

Getting PR copy into the M&G:
The M&G does not, under any circumstances, simply reprint press releases, so there's no point sending them to us for that purpose. They may, however, be useful as background information to individual journalists. But it would be good if you took the trouble of finding out who the relevant journalists are before flooding our mailboxes.

Reprinting or republishing our copy:
Please, before asking us for permission to use our copy, check whether the story in question has something like "Guardian", "Reuters", "AFP", "Sapa" or "Irin" at the end of it. If it does, we can't give you the rights. If it is ours, send your syndication requests to Sewela Mamphiswana.

Idiotic enquiries ... :
Africa is a huge continent containing more than 50 countries and half-a-billion people. We, the people of this vast continent, do not all know each other, nor is the staff of this South African newspaper equipped to be an authority on every last detail of every last country; we don't supply accommodation or act as travel agents.

Please restrict your enquiries as far as possible to questions pertaining to the actual content of the paper.