On Sunday August 24, the Sunday Times ran a headline story titled “Transnet sold our sea to foreigners”, which reported as fact that Transnet had sold “our sea to foreigners”, referring to the 90 square kilometres of sea and the 22km of coastline stretching from Table bay to Robben Island.
Transnet refuted these claims as absolute bollocks and reported the Sunday Times to the press ombudsman. This only one of a series of cases of reckless and irresponsible journalism by the Sunday Times. I am puzzled at the fact that its editor-in-chief, Mondli Makhanya, still has his job.
On September 7, the Sunday Timesretracted its sensational story and failed to apologise to Transnet and its readers. The statement read: “In reporting and editing the Transnet story, some of our established practices were not followed. We would like to reassure our readers that we are committed to improving our systems to validate the information we publish.”
Makhanya wrote in his column: “Cynics will snigger at this and say that we are just a tribe that rummages through closets and hangs around smoke-filled bars in search of the next sensational headline. They would say that ‘morality’ and ‘media’ cannot be used in the same sentence. We would obviously argue otherwise.”
Who are these “cynics” to whom Makhanya refers? Those who are cynical are the readers who have been loyal to the paper for a number of years; rather than “sniggling” at these unfortunate developments, they are in fact fuming at the constant and deliberate undermining of their intelligence and regard by the Sunday Times. Readers of the Sunday Times chose the newspaper expecting responsible journalism and a high degree of professionalism. The Sunday Times has failed its readers.
Makhaya went on to say: “In conducting our reporting, we journalists rely on public documents, secret documents, live sources and the public platforms where issues are discussed. Where the documentation is inadequate and the live sourcing is stronger, we do our utmost to verify and cross-verify our facts.”
If indeed the “facts” as reported on August 24 had been cross-verified, the Sunday Times would not have reported that it “has established that the meeting was convened after Transnet and Lexshell told parliament’s portfolio committee on environmental affairs and tourism that they have an agreement for the transfer of vast amounts of South Africa’s coast to foreign interests”.
The paper went on to claim: “In a letter to provincial legislatures, Transnet pleaded that it be granted exemption from the law to avoid ‘substantial financial prejudice’ that it would suffer if it failed to transfer the land to the Waterfront’s buyers.”
The paper quoted numerous sources, from the chairman of the NCOP’s committee on environmental affairs and tourism to faceless senior government officials, in an attempt to validate its reckless and sensational claims. Readers believe what the Sunday Times reports, informed by the knowledge that research is conducted and its reports are a reflection of the truth as it exists. It is a fair expectation by readers of investigative journalism.
If the Sunday Times had done as it claims with regard to verification of its sources, the story should not have been published. Often when the media have come under fire purely for reasons of their own recklessness, they have sought to blackmail critics by accusing them of encroaching on their press freedom. That all freedoms are not divorced from associated responsibilities is not a secret.
Journalism shapes public opinion; gutter journalism certainly distorts public opinion. Not only are the media influential to society, but they also can be used to churn propaganda to serve particular political or economic interests. Manufactured stories and fabricated news reported as fact are problematic in the current political climate, as they feed and reinforce particular political conspiracies and misconceptions.
The media served as cheerleaders during the two world wars, and recently during the invasion of Iraq. Certainly none of us desire of the media to become a political tool that serves one interest against another without unbiased presentation of the truth demanded by readers. The Sunday Times has failed hopelessly to find the middle ground and betrayed its obligation to tell the truth. The paper under Makhanya has lost its credibility, and it is time that readers become activists against gutter journalism and be vociferous in their disgust at the Sunday Times.
The Sunday Times lost the Middle Ground when they fired David Bullard and kept on Mohau Peko.
So selective is your criticism over media firms or subjects at hand…I wonder why there’s such so much rant spewing out of your orifice…The du Preezs, Mamailas, Feriels, Bruces of this world have been trouncing on people’s civil liberties with their slant and unbecoming reporting and no-one has risen to challenge them in the manner you’ve done with Mondli, particularly when he happened to get closer to your buddy.
I’m good-naturedly looking forward to hear more of your denigration of other subjects reported by these media firms (I’m also bearing in mind that you’ve been constantly quoting the articles they publish, when matters go well with your twisted analysis)…
Consistency is much needed on these subjects.
By the way while you’re still on your venture of media attacks, please take it as if there was nothing reported about your ignorant pal (the Pipe Smoking internet based Scientist)…we want to make sure that we avoid contrite and political correctness about this dude
I’m patiently waiting…
LYNDALL, what issues do you have with Mohau Pheko? The Sunday Times made a good decision to fire David Bullard; and should do the same with Mondli Makhaya.
SIPHIWO, do you care to give us examples where those people you’ve mentioned published lies about any person or institutions.
Sunday Times is in popular contest and in the way it loosed credibility, now our days they cant claim to be a newspaper but a tabloid. the other day they ran with headlines that Mbeki took R30M in bribes and promised to come with more truth next week but that never happened, it does not even take a scientists to realize who is there main source. for heaven sake Makhaya those guys are pushing personal issues and they are using you and they will bring you down
Sentletse you’re right. The problem with Sunday Times is that it has allowed its anti government phobia to cloud their judgements. Mondli Makhanya and Justice Malala will do everything to please their white masters. Their a??? licking attitude has really hampered their judgements. The is absoultly no difference between Mondli Makhanya and Justice Malala, the’re both anarchists who strive on tarnishing the image of Pres Mvuyelwa Mbeki. They both spend sleepless nights plotting on how to tarnish and disrespect the Mbeki led government. It is so sad that Makhanya has been allowed to occupy the editorship of such an important newspaper. Makhanya and Malala have turned themselves into the black Bullards. These are the real counter revolutionaries, who are hell bent on making this country an ungovernable state. The Rosebak environment has made them to believe that indeed a black man can’t govern. These are the characters who have sunk the level of journalism in this country. They have let their worship of the white man to cloud their judgement, if they have any.
His master voice at it again. Mbeki lost his spot on the ANC Today. Watch out boet, just now some one will hand that lovable ANC leader his machine gun!!!
What annoys me most is that the Sunday Times expects to make money, and will not refund the readers for being duped by one of their multisource stories
Makhanya must resign. It is about time he takes his own medicine and resign. He is so grossly incompetent it is not funny anymore.
He has been publishing lies week in week out, riding on the reputation of the Sunday Times that has been build by other people before him. His greed and deceit is unsurpassed. No editor I know has been as careless, incompetent, slothful, conniving and paranoid as Mondli Makhanya. He is doing a great disservice to investigative journalism and to journalism generally.
MAKHANYA, BOET YOU HAVE FAILED. IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO GO!
Letter to Mondli Makhanya
What are you drying to do here? trying to prove that a black man can’t be a competitive editor of the major newspaper? or are you window dressing and there is someone who is running the show? first it was the matter of the David Bullard who was supposed to be fired together with you because every little thing that is printed on the paper need to be checked by the editor and be given a go ahead. David Bullard was paid to be controversial and you are paid to make sure while he is being controversial he does not overstep the mark. if you did your work properly that article and many more of Bullard could have find themselves in the out to lunch column. second where is the evidence that you promised us after the week of “Mbeki took R30M Bribe”? why did you allow the stolen medical record to be considered as a source? why past Sunday didn’t you take it like a man and apologies to the worthy Sunday Times readers for publishing lies about Transnet selling the our sea to foreigners? instead you explained to us what we know and know that you don’t follow. why are you clearly fighting Mbeki that even a blind man can see it? we will like to read about bad or good that Mbeki or anyone is doing but only if is the truth. I cant say resign put please improve and show that a black man can be editor
I have stopped buying sunday times long time ago. i am tired of sensationalisation and hatred of certain people, that they will report negative things constantly disregarding the good things they do. They never give credit where is due, and all they know is to criticise. I have stopped buying crap newspapers. Thanks Sentletse for such a good article
The Sunday Times has always been a 2nd rate tabloid newspaper. I’m sure more people buy the rag for it’s Back Page (and now Other Back Page) than they do for page 3 stories. The paper is jsut 1 step away from have Page 3 Girls to make up for it’s ramapant lack of journalistic integrity.
@Lyndall
The Sunday Times lost the middle ground when they HIRED Bullard in the first place
Sometimes we buy the Sunday Times for the job advertising as the government seems to own this paper for this purpose. Luckily we are not looking for jobs.
All the critic about government has not stopped them from using the paper. Who is stupid here?
BENZOL, there was an uproar when Essop Pahad threatened to withdraw government advertising from the Sunday Times; which the government is entitled to do. Like any other client that is not happy with the treatment and/or service received from the service provider, nothing prevents them from taking their business elsewhere.
Sunday Times circulation figures just keep on growing and growing. Mondli’s doing something right.
Pahad’s threat to give public service advertising only to government-supporting editors is NOT his right.
The government is obliged to advertise not only in media bought by their supporters but also in media bought by their opponents. That’s because a government is expected to govern everyone — supporters and opponents alike.
So Pahad was certainly offside in threatening what he did.
It’s another matter entirely when it comes to the placement of ANC party advertising. These party ads can, and should, be placed in party-friendly media read by party-friendly readers/viewers.
But government ads and party ads are entirely different animals which must not be conflated. Ever.
@ Jon
“Sunday Times circulation figures just keep on growing and growing. Mondli’s doing something right.”
So are the other tabloids. I think Makhanya is a genius is realizing that he can grow the numbers much faster by turning the Sunday Lies sorry Times into a tabloid than to keep its high standards of journalism. Not.
Short-termisim!
Luddite
Mondli did not hire David Bullard – he was hired 14 years ago!
Sentletse
Mohau Pheko lives in a PAC past – and often gets her facts wrong. AND she has no blog on the Sunday Times webpage, although she has a weekly collum, which looks like unfair to me – no-one can reply to her comments!
Whether they were right or wrong to hire or sack me is immaterial and of no great concern to me. Fact is I was the best read columnist in the paper for the best part of fourteen years, the MC for all their major events and a magnet for advertising. Claiming I was sacked for a “racist” article has backfired badly on them because I am still very much around and very vocal. The column is missed by many LSM 10 readers, advertising is falling and the paper has to resort to making up front page stories to sell copies. Meanwhile the journalists are treated appallingly by an inept and nepotic management. Just check the AVUSA share movement over the past six months. Mondli has destroyed shareholder value, the paper’s integrity and his own reputation. Maybe he should admit that the job is too big for him and fall on his sword. Although that would be a pity because I am looking forward to seeing him in the Labour Court.
Wow Bullard, nice to see a posting from you. Make no mistake I have always thought of you as a racist and still do. But damn, you are the best columnist there is in the country (Yah yah, Sentletse is brilliant too and I enjoy his writing). So I read your columns for the fun of it and always looked forward to them. You apparently have a blog, may you please provide a link or would you consider posting on TL.
Yes people some of us read the stuff we do not agree with. For-instance I have checked out the “Friends of JZ” many times and sometimes enjoyed their rants and ill informed opinions.
I like Zapiro for the same reasons, he disses people I like but he is good at it. I like that.
Mbeki and the ANC Today editor who use to work with him and Robert Suresh were the other people I enjoyed and yes almost always agreed with them. Miss their postings.
You cannot say the same thing about Mondli, Malala, Xolela, Sipho and other poor sods in their circles. They are just poor, sleep inducing and boring writers.
Lyndall
I didn’t say anything about Mondi hiring Bullard, I said the Sunday Times. Even 20 years ago it was nothing more than a very thick tabloid, with cheap sensationalism and lazy journalism. I think I only paid money for it 3 times when I was applying for jobs.
I have to say I agree with David Bullard (a first) on the Sunday Times Management. Mondli Makhanya is incompetent. While David Bullard has written many articles that some saw as racist (myself included), the article he was fired for was not his worst, which suggests to me that Makhanya was being pushed to make the decisions. He has already shown that perhaps as allowing for the publication of some of Bullard’s comments, he simply has no power in what is published or not. This would explain why the paper publishes such bad work.
As David Bullard suggests, often what sell is not real intellect, rather controversy or even sensation. Bullard’s column created the right vibe for the sector that subscribes to papers which tend to be middle-aged whites with money (LSM10, in other words). These individuals would appreciate any comments that insult black people, the government or anything African. So, the fact that David Bullard satisfied this class of people is indeed significant. What is also significant is that the stories that the Sunday Times published and are proving to be true are indeed the sort of story that would put tears of joy in the same audience that David Bullard owned. The story on the Land Bank is a demonstration of how corrupt and incompetent black directors are. The Transnet deal shows government incompetence in agreeing to sell something when they do not know the full facts. Of course, we know the rumours between Trevor and the white lady head of Transnet. The Thabo Mbeki story is once again proof that black people are corrupt whether in government or parastals. There was the Manto story. It is as if the Sunday Times is doing Bullard’s job for him and yet fired him for simply following the example set by Mondli Makhanya.
So, yes the circulation of the paper might increase because the right audience is too gullible to have independent thought and those that do (LSM10) enjoy the black on black media violence we see out there.
The controversy about the Zapiro cartoon once again demonstrate the angle the Sunday Times wishes to address its readership. Both the cartoon and the PDV story were designed to divert attention from the retraction.
As someone said, I buy the Sunday Times for the puzzles, sports (not sports opinion as that is also biased and often stupid) and the career section. Business section is not bad either, but I suspect that Mondli has nothing to do with it.
I’m to be found on http://www.freeracer.co za every thursday.
The fact that no one has sued them so far is telling. Why do the offended parties resort to complaining to the ineffective press ombudsman instead of suing Mondli his pants off.
@Sentletse
The City Press was recently ordered by the court to pay Zweli Mkhize in damages.I said the court not the press ombudsman.The Mail & Guardian had to make retraction of their story on the cars in Blade Nzimande’s garage.
For Heavens Sake! Surely the main advertisers in the Sunday Times are now black – specifically the government? AND I read somewhere that this paper was once part of Cyril Ramaphosa’s empire, and somewhere else that Tokyo has shares.
If the Sunday Times is anti-Mbeki – this does not make it white! Mbeki has many black enemies as well!
@Lyndall Beddy
The Sunday Times is the enemy of decent and reasonable reporting. It is run by agendas instead of principles of reporting what is and leave speculations to their readers. Does it impress you that the Sunday Times continues to misfire and is turned into a tabloid by an incompetent editor? Never mind who is favoured by that paper, rather look at its quality. Does it satisfay you?
Len van Heerden
IF you could access my blog on Amagama which is ALWAYS down you would see that I have a regular blog that I update called “Monitoring The Sunday Times”
I just don’t think they have a pro-white bias.
@Lyndall Beddy
With due respect, we often find comments that favour our side to be fair, whereas any of those that look critically at us we always find unfair and biased.
Take Bullard’s comments. You will most likely find them spot on, while a black person might consider them racist. The constant harping on any claims of corruption involving black people in parastals and linking a black person to private sector corruption would be seen by others as pandering to a certain segment of society to prove that they are incompetent or corrupt.
Mondli, as a black editor, might feel the need to be seen to be fair and hence ensure that all stories portraying black people as criminal, corrupt and incompetent (Manto, Bullard on black people, Zapiro on Zuma, Mbeki, Land Bank, Transnet, etc) pass while stories dealing with white individuals might need vetting and approval. It is a well known pyschological response to trying to be seen to be fair, but putting down your own, while protecting others.
@ Len van Heerden
“It is a well known pyschological response to trying to be seen to be fair, but putting down your own, while protecting others.”
You are just making up excuses for Makhanya. Makhanya is unable to do his job because he is incompetent, nothing more nothing less. If anything it should be harder for white managers as they are part of the minority group and can very easily be labeled racist.
The problem with Makhanya and his Sunday Times is that they publish lies, half-truths, false news, propaganda, poisoned opinions, and other evils week in week out. Publishing falsehoods has nothing to do with race but it has everything to do with someone who is not doing his or her job well. Hence the whole talk about strengthening up their systems etc. No more excuses for Mondli please.
“In this regard we will be embarking on a process of reviewing the way we do our journalism, and strengthening our verification and authentication mechanisms. This will be an honest, critical look at ourselves.
We will be commissioning a panel of eminent individuals who will help us through this process.” [http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=838152 ]