By Ilham Rawoot
While big things are happening on the media freedom front, it seems that some of the people on the inside of the SABC are the ones blocking the news themselves.
This doesn’t make things any easier in a tense atmosphere where journalists still have to deal with difficult spokespeople who think that the Protection of Information Bill has already been passed. One step forward, ten steps backward.
On the one hand, good things are starting. On Tuesday more than 200 local and international civil-society organisations launched the Right2Know campaign at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. The campaign demands that the bill limits secrecy to core state bodies in the security sector and does not criminalise the legitimate disclosure of secrets in the public interest, amongst other things. It’s what we’ve all been calling for, but now it’s been consolidated into one movement, which is always helpful. That’s the good part of the week.
On the more frightening side, the M&G reported this week that a big boss at the SABC has been blocking and punting news based on his own fancies. The story reads that Phil Molefe, head of news at the state broadcaster instructed employees to broadcast that he had been given the job, after his appointment in May. But when it emerged, five days later, that the board did not approve his appointment, he instructed staff to kill a story about the board’s objections. The head of radio news wasn’t going to be told what to do, and went ahead with the story, only to be threatened with disciplinary action afterwards.
I’m not sure which is scarier — the government threatening to jail journalists for being in possession of anything they deem as “secret”, or the heads of media organisations picking, choosing and banning stories based on their own ego-boosting agendas.
Now is not the time to be creating internal scuffles — now is the time to be open and transparent. If not us, then who?
In the meantime, spokespeople are going on power trips, seemingly unaware that the bill is still a bill, and that even if it is passed, will almost certainly have to face Constitutional scrutiny, which it has little chance of fleeing unscathed.
In yet another nasty email to-and-fro with a government communication head this week, a colleague was called “disingenuous” when he asked for details about a questionable multimillion-rand tender award. “We cannot release them with proper procedure being followed and, above all, to a person who is not honest about the reasons for requesting these,” he was told, in bold red font.
And I, when requesting information from a spokesperson, was reprimanded for not using the answers he had sent me in our last correspondence, even though he had sent them two days after my deadline.
But can we really expect them to change when people within our industry are hiding information from the public as well?
Transparency and openness is not the enemy. It’s not always easy to run with a story that doesn’t suit everyone’s ideals. People, even within newsrooms, have different opinions on different subjects. But news is news and truth is truth. And this seems to be something that needs to be realised not only by the government, but by some people within the media itself. Or else we’re screwed.
All well and fine but the media also applies need to know rules. Let us take what the press deem as racist based.
Say a farmer who beat up his worker. The farmer is immediately termed as a racist and the attack racially motivated. Worse still the media stick to their guns even when the farmer is found to be innocent.
It is not considered that the farmer may be a really bad employer who deserves imprisonment with what amounts to master slave association. Nor is fair reporting given to both sides of the story. The racism angle is what get the most coverage.
The current instance, although I do not agree with the governments attempt at employing smoke and mirrors to hide the real intention.
I really feel that the press should look into themselves for many a misleading article. In some instances reporters repeating over and over the same news as if to validate the need to be employed or to reinforce the lie.
The press should at least be forced to print as a big lettered retraction as they do when making up a misleading headline. Once it hits their pocket they will improve the quality of reporting.
The SABC is the lackey of the ANC so they will only say what the ANC wants them to say? If you want free and fair reporting and comments from opposition parties, go to the internet, the media or free broadcasters (whilst they are still free). In the future you will have to get your news from the Washington Post, or the New York Times or the BBC.
It is doubtful that the ANC can muzzle the aforesaid as well. The Mail and Guardian, The Star and Talk Radio 702 may well move to Gabarone and broadcast from there? Perhaps, as was the case in the second World War, laws will be passed to ban listening to foreign broadcasts or websites – the Hawks will be watching us?? Getting material will be difficult but in this global world nothing stays a secret for very long and its no secret, that the ANC is corrupt from top to bottom and that they haven’t stopped yet.
Even a recent President of the USA could not keep his secrets to himself so what hope do the idiots that run this country have to steal without fear of being caught?? And the more secret the wrong doers are, the more secret the secret seekers will become.
I wouldn’t call SABC staff ‘media’ or ‘press’. With few exceptions they have proved incompetent or, as with Molefe, confusing themselves with Medieval rulers of fiefdoms. “Special Assignment” and “The Fifth Estate” and some radio commentators do their work in a professional manner so they an all can expect to get the axe when the POI and MAT become reality.
The ANC game is the only aspect of it that is transparent: You give us the POI and we’ll drop the MAT–for the present.
The truth is that if Parliament adopts the POI, the MAT becomes moot. The POI act criminalises the profession of journalism in all of its forms and substitutes ANC Public Relations and Advertising in its place.
South Africa does have enemies but they are not in the press.media.
The real enemies of SA are the ANC deployees who are committing fraud, theft, nepotism through ‘tender-ising’, failing to do their jobs (like keeping financial records in their departments or municipalities!), abusing departmental budgets for travel, entertaining, ‘conferences’ etc,. and utterly failing to deliver essential services to the entire country.
The ANC and YL need to look in the mirror and see that the ENEMY is staring them in the face.