I didn’t think it was necessary to trot out my cv so that I could voice an opinion on a blog post.

But if you would like my entire CV you’ll find it on my website http://www.protocolinpractice.co.za

By the way, I thought it very interesting that Karen, who commented on the blog initially, didn’t think it necessary to mention that she used to work as a speech writer for the heads of the Durban municipality for many years!

I think you are spot on – and I’m not only saying it because I’m the editor of a community newspaper in this position.
Community newspapers are at the coalface of democracy – and it’s a severe blow to press freedom if we are forced to toe the line because we fear the authorities will withdraw their advertising if we don’t.
If we get it wrong then, as you pointed out, the government has other courses of action: right of reply, press ombudsman and even going to court. But to pull advertising… we should all be very concerned.

Also, if you had read my reply to you carefully, you would have noted that I DO NOT say the ‘government is childish’. What I DO say is that the reaction of financial retribution is childish. And it is precisely this type of misquoting that causes harm and contributes to mis-communication.

This isn’t just an overnight thing, it has been brewing for a long time. In many areas government is really bad at communicating, especially at local and provincial government level – and the media, with many inexperienced and undisciplined journalists just have a party.

Kristin, the problem here is not the government being “childish” as you so patronizingly say. The problem is that the government and the media don’t communicate properly. There is always some kind of stand-off. And they don’t have to be at each other’s throats.

Transformation is a process. A lot of matters are still very raw and become personal with people and then sparks fly.

As our democracy grows, these issues will resolve themselves.

This is not a blog about the correctness or incorrectness of news articles. My concern is with government withdrawing ads because media are critical of government policies or actions – and they have a constitutional right to be critical and say so in their publications.

I am in no way indicating that media is free of making mistakes. If something has been reported incorrectly, there are numerous ways for government, and anyone else for this matter, to take up the issue, for example by contacting the editor and asking for a correction, the right to reply or bringing the matter to the attention of the Press Ombudsman.

Don’t you think government should pursue these steps offered by our democratic system rather than reacting in the, frankly quite childish, way of cutting ads because they hope it will hurt the paper financially?

I agree with you that all media reporting should be fair and equitable. But at times I think it is over-critical.

I have seen very unfair reporting here in Durban on local government issues and events. And you must remember, that these newspapers are only the voice of a small minority of the masses of the almost 75% ruling party majority – so it can hardly be called “the voice of the people”.

Analyze the stories in any of these news papers. How many stories are around crime? How many about women, how many about negative stereotyping, how many “good news” stories etc. analyze the images – you know that exercise.

Is this the loudspeaker of the people that is being clearly heard?