Journalists need to be free to work

THE fourth leg of democracy is a free media with a responsibility and right to question those in power, or those who aspire to rule.

This fact escaped ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte this week when she unleashed a fingerwagging personal attack on TV reporter Samkelo Maseko at a press conference.

She accused Maseko of, among a string of other charges, asking “attacking” questions, behaving as if he were “lord of the media” and being a bully.

Duarte seemed particularly put out that Maseko had dared to ask a question that was not part of the subject the ANC wanted to cover during the conference.

Holding people in power to account is the media’s job. Journalists should not be the friends of those who hold or seek power.

They should not be told what questions they can ask.

It is the prerogative of the person questioned to decline to answer any question, but the questions themselves cannot and should not be dictated.

People who choose to be in public office must know every aspect of that life is open to scrutiny.

In the run-up to the May 8 general election, the already tense atmosphere in the country is going to be thunderstorm tense. Political extremes and party infighting will escalate as the organisations scrap for every vote.

In this environment, it is important for all sides to keep it clean.

South Africans have spent the last nine years in a haze of misinformation, disinformation, lies and shadows. It is only thanks to the media that the lancing of the boil of power and corruption, in the public and private sectors, is beginning.

Several journalists have written powerful books revealing some of the malfeasance that went on.

There is still much to uncover. South Africans face harsh economic times, much of it caused by bad governance. It is for them that the media must fulfil its mandate as citizens choose who can offer the best options to improve their lives.