Dirk Daniël Hammann, known as Niel Hammann (born September 6, 1937), is a retired South African senior

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He was

Editor-in-Chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

weekly family magazine

Huisgenoot ''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans language, Afrikaans for ''House Companion'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister ...

, as well as its sister publication

You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

(English).

Career

Hammann was appointed assistant director of Huisgenoot in September 1977. He became editor of the magazine in 1978. ''Huisgenoot'' and ''You'' are published in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Media24 Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web portal ...

,an affiliate of the South African media giant

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

. In the late seventies, ''Huisgenoot's'' weekly sales dropped to 129,000, causing the publishers to consider closing the publication. Hammann prevented ''Huisgenoot'' from closing and systematically revived the magazine. This was done in part by focusing on sesantional stories, celebrities, and crime. He also opened syndication offices in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The magazine's circulation grew to more than 500,000 in 1984, and a record high of 540,000 sales in one week in the 1990s. ''Huisgenoot'' had become the leading South African weekly. It was read by considerably more than two million people every week based on Average Issue Readership of more than 4 per copy sold.Spies, J.J. 1992. Tydskrifte in 'n ander wêreld in W.D.Beukes (red), ''Oor Grense Heen. Op pad na 'n'' nasionale pers 1949 – 1990'' (p. 353). Kaapstad: Nasionale Boekhandel.'' The magazine ''You'', which Hammann launched in 1987 as a kind of English "clone" of ''Huisgenoot'', followed the same spiral upwards from the start, soon achieving second place on the popularity list for South African magazines. Hammann changed the magazine's content to meet international standards which he had previously studied as London editor for ''Naspers's'' magazines. Hammann retired in the late nineties.

Personal life

Hammann has a wife, Marlene.

Awards

'' awarded him their highest accolade, while The South African Academy for Science and Arts (Afrikaans: Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns) awarded him with their medal for excellence in journalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammann, Niel 1937 births Living people South African journalists Stellenbosch University alumni South African newspaper editors South African magazine editors People from Cape Town