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The Rhodesia Herald, 24 December 1960
THE EDITOR of the Sunday News, Bulawayo, Mr GD Smith, ends a 33-year career in journalism when he puts the paper “to bed” next Saturday night.

He has been editor of the Sunday News for nine years.

Mr Smith son of an 1895 Bulawayo pioneer was born in Salisbury in 1902.

He was a Rhodes scholar and took his MA degree at Exeter College, Oxford.

After a period of teaching at Milton School he entered journalism in 1929, joining the Star IN Johannesburg.

He returned to Bulawayo in 1929 where he was sports editor and senior sub-editor for 13 years.

Mr Smith returned to Johannesburg in 1942 to become “splash” sub-editor on the Star, and during his service there was president of the Southern African Society of Journalism in 1947.

In 1949 he returned to Salisbury as Rhodesian Representative of the Argus group — the start of what is now the Argus Africa News Service.

He became acting assistant editor of the Rhodesia Herald, and then came back to Bulawayo as Editor of the Sunday News.

He is succeeded by Mr PH Tudor-Owen, a journalist of 26 years standing, nearly 14 of them spent in Rhodesia.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

Founded in 1930, The Sunday News was the fourth newspaper under the Argus Africa News Service, now Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Ltd.

The first three newspapers in the Zimpapers Group stable were The Herald (1891), The Manica Post (1893) and Chronicle (1894).

These newspapers and their editors have their place in the history of the Fourth Estate in Zimbabwe. They withstood the ravages of time, and have shaped the media industry in Zimbabwe, and Africa.

Zimpapers is now a market leader in the media industry, with its integrated approach to gathering and disseminating news. Apart from the daily and weekly newspaper titles, it now has four radio stations and a television broadcasting channel.

The group’s digital footprint continues to grow.

Zimpapers is a major contributor in the recording of the Zimbabwean narrative.

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