About IOL

Contacting IOL and Independent Media

How can I contact IOL?

You can contact IOL using our feedback form. Please select an appropriate section to help us help you. While we prefer to be contacted via our feedback system if you do need to phone us you can contact the editor Riana Howa on 021 488 4571 or at [email protected].

For queries relating to IOL Property email [email protected]

How do I contact your advertising department?

To request information on IOL advertising, or to book an advert, please contact IOL’s commercial manager, Craig Swartz at [email protected].

Does IOL have social media accounts?

IOL has a number of social media accounts including separate accounts for individual interest groups. We also have Twitter and Facebook accounts for most of our newspapers.

You can find IOL on Twitter at @IOL, on Facebook and on Instagram. To find other Twitter and Facebook accounts that might be of interest to you, you can look at the specific section on the news site (Motoring or The Star for example) and follow the links from there.

Can I submit an article for publication on IOL?

IOL does not have the budget to pay for freelance articles. But if it is for free you can mail [email protected] and we take a look.

I think something I have seen in a news article on IOL is incorrect, or I am offended by something on the IOL site. Who do I contact?

Please use our feedback form to report your concern. We will address all concerns as quickly as possible.

I have general feedback to give to IOL, or queries about the site, or technical problems. Who do I write to?

For general queries, support queries and technical support please use our feedback form and direct your query to the appropriate division.

My query is about a newspaper. Should I contact IOL?

No. If your query is about one of the newspapers published by the Independent group then please contact the newspaper directly. See above for contact details of all Independent Media’s print titles.

Do you have a newsletter? How do I subscribe?

IOL has a number of email newsletters. We send out twice-daily news updates during the week and once a day versions over weekends. We also have newsletters covering business, sport, motoring, entertainment, television schedules, lifestyle, travel as well as science and technology news. For a list of newsletters and subscription options you can visit our newsletter subscription page.

How do I unsubscribe from your newsletters?

While we hope that you find our newsletters useful and informative, if you do want to unsubscribe from our newsletters you can click on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the newsletter you want to unsubscribe from. Please let us know why you unsubscribed. It helps us improve our services to readers.

What is RSS?

RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds are free content feeds from your favourite websites including IOL. They contain headlines, a summary or teaser paragraph, and a link to the article on the website. You can use these feeds to browse headlines in a newsreader such as Google Reader or many other RSS readers. To do that you need to set up a reader account and then paste in the address for the specific feed you want to view. Any news updates will automatically be refreshed in your reader account.

You can also use RSS feeds to your website and most popular online publishing platforms have built-in tools to add RSS feeds to your site.

Does IOL have RSS feeds?

Yes, we do. You can find a long list of these on our RSS page.

Advertising and Classifieds

How do I place an advert on IOL?

To request information on IOL advertising, or to book an advert, please contact IOL’s commercial manager, Craig Swartz at [email protected].

How do I book an advert in one of your newspapers?

To request a rate card or book an advert in one of Independent Media’s print newspapers (see list above) please contact one of our regional offices:

Alternatively, please contact Ronell Buitenbos for assistance in this regard on ​[email protected] or 011 633 2632

Problems/Help with the IOL site

The site is slow, or times out. Why?

While we do our best to ensure that IOL performs as quickly as possible, the site is very large and is read by hundreds, even thousands, of readers at any one time. This can sometimes result in bottlenecks.

We also update the site hundreds of times a day which means the site is constantly changing. Sometimes this can result in some slowdown in performance.

If these speed issues do not resolve themselves in a reasonable time please contact us via our feedback form and let us know. If possible please include some details on the device you are using, the  type of internet connection you have (ADSL, 3G etc), the browser you are using, the operating system you are using and any other relevant details you can offer. The more details we have of the problem the easier it is for us to try and solve it.

I am seeing old news on IOL. How do I get the most up-to-date news?

It is possible you are seeing a cached or stored version of the IOL site. Try clicking refresh or reload in your browser window. On your desktop, hitting the F5 button will refresh the page.

If you continue to experience problems please use our feedback form to let us know. Giving us as much information about the problem can make it easier for us to resolve the issue. Please see the previous answer for an idea of the types of information that can help us pinpoint the problem.

Can I search IOL's archives? How does the search work?

To search for an article on IOL click on the magnifying glass in the top right-hand corner. Type keywords into the space and press enter.

IOL Content

Can I buy content from IOL?

You can buy content from IOL. Please use our feedback system to request more information.

I want to place a link to IOL - or to a story on IOL - on my site. Can I?

Placing a link to IOL or to an IOL article on your site is fine.  

Can I publish an IOL article or picture on my site?

No, not without permission. Independent Media invests significant amounts of money to produce the content in its newspapers and on the IOL website. To request permission to republish an article please use our feedback system. Please include details of where you want to publish the article, including any relevant links. Please bear in mind that we also make use of many wires services which do not allow us to reassign publishing rights.

Contacting Newspapers

I think something I have seen in an Independent newspaper is incorrect, or I am offended by something in an Independent newspaper. Who do I contact?

If your concern is specific to one of the newspapers we publish please contact the newspaper directly. See above for their details. Alternatively you can email [email protected]

I would like to submit a letter for publication in one of your newspapers. Where do I send it?

Before you fire off your letter, remember that the editors of all Independent publications require a physical address and name. Some publications are prepared to use a nom de plume, and some not. You can find contact details below for the various newspapers.

Diamond Fields Advertiser
Fax: 053 832 1141

I have an idea for a news story. How do I get hold of the newsdesk at your newspapers?

To contact one of the newspaper newsdesks you can phone one of the regional numbers and ask for the newsdesk of the relevant publication.

Gauteng switchboard
011-633-9111

KwaZulu-Natal switchboard
031-308-2911

Western Cape switchboard
021-488-4911
Or to contact a newspaper directly see above.

I need the email address of an Independent newspaper journalist. Where can I get it?

In general, Independent Newspaper email addresses are formatted in the following way: [firstname].[secondname]@inl.co.za (replace the sections in square brackets with the right names and separate first and second names with a full-stop.

If that does not work you can contact the newsdesk of the journalist’s paper and ask for that information. A list of newsdesk contacts can be found above.

I am looking for a back issue of one of your newspapers. Who can I contact?

For newspapers published in Gauteng you can contact 011-633-9111 and they will assist you with back copies. For KwaZulu-Natal- and Western Cape-based papers please contact the relevant switchboard and ask for the back copies department:

KZN: 031-308-2911
Western Cape: 021-488-4911

I have a consumer complaint or query. Who do I contact?

You can write to consumer watchdog Georgina Crouth at [email protected]

Follow Georgie on Twitter: @askgeorgie

Subscriptions

Print Subscriptions

To subscribe to, renew or query your subscription to any of Independent Media’s publications you can one of our regional call centres:

Cape Town - 0800 22 07 70
Gauteng - 0860 32 62 62
Durban - 0800 20 47 11

Electronic subscriptions

Most print titles published by Independent Media are also available as an electronic subscription. These e-editions are complete editions of the various papers that you can view online or on a mobile device.
To subscribe to any of the e-editions you can visit their individual e-edition sites:

I have a technical problem with the e-edition. Who can I contact?

The e-edition versions of our newspapers are managed for us by Newspaper Direct. If you need assistance with your e-edition subscription please contact Newspaper Direct. To do this, visit the appropriate page listed above (ie, your e-edition title) and from that page click on “Request Support”. That page also has additional information on how to get the most out of your electronic subscription.

I have a subscription problem with the e-edition. Who can I contact?

Please see the section above and contact Newspaper Direct with all support queries.