Sunday Times told to reveal its sources

The Sunday Times has been asked to make a “full disclosure” of how it was misled to further a “parallel political project” that had devastating consequences for the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and senior police officers.

Retired Judge Kathy Satchwell on Monday released a report by an independent panel into media ethics and credibility, done for the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef).

The panel, which consisted of Satchwell and veteran journalists Nikiwe Bikitsha and Rich Mkhondo, recommended that the Sunday Times issue a “full and unreserved apology” to people like former Sars officials Ivan Pillay and Johann van Loggerenberg and General Johan Booysen, the former Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation boss in KwaZulu-Natal, who were incorrectly implicated in false stories about renditions, a so-called “hit squad” and a Sars investigative unit that was labelled “rogue”.

The panel was critical of previous apologies issued by the newspaper to the victims of its stories.

“The panel believes the Sunday Times should make full disclosure of the nature and extent of the ‘parallel political project’ which [it] avers took place and that led to the ‘abuse’, providing details of the persons involved and their actions, as well as the wrongdoings or failures of all journalists, editors, editorial and administrative staff involved,” it recommended.

According to Satchwell and her colleagues, the Sunday Times “failed in the most basic tenets of journalistic practice”.

In a statement Sunday Times editor S’thembiso Msomi said the paper would “study the report further in the coming days as we believe that it has some valuable suggestions for our newsroom going forward”.

He said the newspaper “remain[s] committed to truthful, independent and accountable journalism and pledge to work closely with Sanef and other role players to help improve the craft”.

The newspaper is expected to submit the work and culture of its newsroom to scrutiny and assessment by an independent panel every five years.

The panel released 69 recommendations as part of its 329-page report, with an emphasis on editorial independence and new models of funding journalism in the future.

The full report is available on Sanef’s website. – News24 Wire

We believe that the report has some valuable suggestions for our newsroom going forward.

S’thembiso Msomi Sunday Times editor