Media rate bad over good

The negative reports involving senior journalists Karima Brown and Ranjeni Munusamy are unfortunate, and I am sure a golden gift to detractors such as the EFF. Already we are being told to stop talking about VBS.

The media houses and the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) are to blame. Journalists can be their own worst enemies. A case in point is coverage of Nolubabalo Nobanda’s release from jail in Thailand after serving eight years for drug trafficking. Newzroom Afrika, the SABC and eNCA coverage seemed to glorify the crime.

Is this the message you want to send to a country struggling to deal with the scourge of drugs that is ravaging our communities? What are you telling mothers in Eldorado Park and the Cape Flats whose children are hooked on tik?

Compare this with the negative coverage of the collapse of Ndalo Media. Khanyi Dhlomo, who built a company that created jobs, has been treated as scum by some media houses. She is not celebrated for having the guts to follow her dream.

Is this nation building? Why is the fourth estate not helping with moral regeneration? Sanef is good at releasing press statements, and not at providing leadership. It has ignored the troubling questions of “brown envelope” journalism for too long. It is time shady journalists are disbarred, as happens with lawyers and doctors.

The Brown/Munusamy saga should not be wasted. It is a perfect opportunity for selfreflection by the fourth estate.

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane Via e-mail