Online Reporter
TODAY is the final day we are publishing the physical copy of your favourite newspaper this year.
We will be back on the streets on January 5, next year.
We have traditionally taken this annual break for us to recharge our batteries and also plan for next year.
The media landscape is changing, just like everything else, in this world.
We acknowledge the changes and that is why our parent company, Zimbabwe Newspapers, has invested in a digital newsroom to confront the changing media landscape.
Social media has come with huge challenges for us given that we are a newspaper which predominantly deals with human interest stories.
These are the kind of stories which usually dominate social media platforms.
However, where we have distinguished ourselves, and made ourselves relevant, is that we are the point of reference for what is true and what is not.
We pride ourselves in the fact that we are the main source of human interest stories in this country.
Scores of bloggers and social media platforms just wait for H-Metro to publish stories and they then feast on our content and some even shamelessly claim that they are the originators of the content.
Just check the Kapfupi family saga.
We were the first to publish that the marriage of Kapfupi and his estranged wife Mai Nga had collapsed.
We broke the story and then followed it up with an interview with Kapfupi that was very explosive and revealed stunning details of what happened in the countdown to the collapse of the marriage.
And, those who only wait for us to publish had the feast of the year.
The podcasters joined in the feast.
We actually have this belief that without our content, many bloggers and podcasters, who concentrate on human interest stories, would collapse.
We are proud of the work we do here at H-Metro.
We are certain that our readers have also seen the work we have been doing in the past few years to fine-tune our content and bring our newspaper, and its digital platforms, in line with the changes related to what we now focus on.
We have already transformed ourselves from a newspaper which used to be dominated by news related to sex and commercial sex workers.
That is why you now can find the story of a kid, who would have done very well in his or her primary school examinations, can also find himself or herself on our front page and dominating our coverage on our digital platforms.
We have kept true to our mission to be the leading voice in the fight against gender violence and that is why we have given a lot of space, both in this newspaper and online, to rape cases. we provide the most comprehensive coverage of domestic sport and the exploits of our sportsmen and women who are based in foreign countries.
Without the support of our readers, and advertisers, we would not have been walking right now and celebrating this festive season. We just taking a break and we hope to see you soon.
Mathew Masinge