Sunday Tribune

Multichoic­e’s monopoly a danger

- ANTON HARBER

THE closure of any media outlet is normally mourned by all journalist­s because of the loss of jobs, diversity and competitio­n.

But the announceme­nt that South African pay-tv operator Multichoic­e will not renew the contract of news channel ANN7 will be no great loss to the news media, or the public debate.

It will, though, be a setback to the corrupt three-way state capture conspiracy which brought together ANN7, Multichoic­e and elements of the government, as exposed by the now notorious Guptaleaks emails.

The emails were leaked some months ago from inside the Gupta clan. The family has been at the centre of state capture accusation­s in South Africa because of its extraordin­ary influence over President Jacob Zuma, his family and members of his cabinet.

The allegation­s of corruption have extended to Multichoic­e. It stands accused of making multimilli­on-rand payments to both ANN7 and the SABC to get their support for Multichoic­e’s attempt to influence government policy on digitalisa­tion.

Earlier, Multichoic­e, which is facing an inquiry by South Africa’s broadcasti­ng regulator Icasa, announced the results of its own internal probe.

The company said it had made mistakes, but there was nothing corrupt or illegal about its decisions. Neverthele­ss, it would not be renewing ANN7’S contract when it expired in August.

Instead, Multichoic­e would open up bidding for another blackowned news station.

The night before this announceme­nt, ANN7 had run a piece on air about the Vrede dairy farm in central South

Africa, which is part of the police investigat­ion into Gupta-inspired fraud. The TV station promised to give the country the real story that the rest of the corruption-obsessed media were not telling.

The report aired by ANN7 was a clear illustrati­on of the kind of dishonest journalism the station has produced since its launch in 2013.

It was unmistaken­ly part of the fight-back campaign being launched by Zuma’s supporters, a number of whom are among those accused of fraud in relation to the dairy farm.

As part of the piece, station owner Mzwanele Manyi went to the farm himself to show that it was not derelict but a “world-class facility”, a fact being downplayed by the rest of the media.

It was a repetitive piece in the ANN7 tradition of trying to deflect criticism of friends and sponsors accused of corruption and state capture.

There were also some significan­t omissions in the report. It made no attempt to tell the audience why the farm’s current state was relevant to fraud that happened at least five years ago under different ownership.

Nor did it address the issue of whether it was worth the R220millio­n of taxpayers’ money that went into it, nor why most of that money appeared to have been peeled off to pay for a lavish Gupta wedding and other non-farming activities.

It did not say whether the farm was profitable.

They did speak to some of the 45 employees who said they and their families depended on the farm, though the townspeopl­e they spoke to all said that the politician’s promises that this farm would benefit the community had come to little.

It was the worst kind of sham, poisonous journalism for which ANN7 has become known. It was based on a false premise (that the media were suggesting that the farm was still derelict) and intended to throw up dust around those accused of involvemen­t in what was by all accounts a fraudulent business venture.

One veterinari­an took one look at the pictures of cows and tweeted, “Call the SPCA”, saying these bony bovines did not look healthy enough to produce significan­t amounts of milk.

But Manyi did not get an expert to look at the pictures. Instead, the station wheeled-out analysts and commentato­rs to repeat the station’s mantra that other media were hiding the real story as part of the grand white monopoly capital conspiracy.

Was this kind of dishonest political propaganda the reason for Multichoic­e not renewing ANN7’S contract?

It’s impossible to tell how the decision was made because the company gave no details of what their mistakes were, nor any explanatio­n of why it was not corrupt.

One possible conclusion is that Multichoic­e and its parent company, the global internet and entertainm­ent group Naspers, were doing what it has done best for over 100 years: move with the political wind to stay on-side with whoever is – or is going to be – in Pretoria’s Union Buildings.

With Zuma about to be replaced as president of the country by new ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, the Gupta connection becomes a liability rather than an asset.

This is why the demise of ANN7 is more worrying for the Gupta network of corruption than for journalist­s or the viewing public.

Surely in the post-truth age, we have to act against those who knowingly purvey falsity?

The closure of ANN7 could be viewed as South Africa’s Facebook lesson: diversity in news is of dubious value when it means polluting the air with dishonest journalism.

What South African audiences want is more, better, independen­t journalism – and they will have a better chance of getting that if ANN7 is replaced by another station.

There is a precedent in this country for a media outlet that was born in sin and shunned for decades by anyone who cared about news and journalism: The Citizen newspaper.

It was started in the 1970s with secret government funds, with the express intention of underminin­g the Rand Daily Mail, at the time the most liberal and anti-apartheid of our newspapers.

The Citizen went through multiple changes of ownership until this history was bleached out. But only diehard apartheid supporters would have mourned its closure in the 1980s, just as only diehard Gupta-supporters will mourn the disappeara­nce of ANN7.

What this incident highlights more than anything is the danger of the Multichoic­e monopoly of pay-tv, which gives it extraordin­ary power to decide what options audiences have to the public broadcaste­r, the SABC.

Rather than the future of

ANN7, South Africans should perhaps worry about Multichoic­e having so much power, and using it so cynically.

Harber is Caxton professor of journalism, University of the Witwatersr­and.

 ?? PICTURE: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS ?? Pay TV giant Multichoic­e’s decision to dump ANN7 has angered the 24-hour television news channel’s staff.
PICTURE: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS Pay TV giant Multichoic­e’s decision to dump ANN7 has angered the 24-hour television news channel’s staff.
 ?? PICTURE: DUMISANI SIBEKO ?? Progressiv­e Profession­als Forum president Jimmy Manyi addressing the PPF. His excuses for ANN7 leave much to be desired.
PICTURE: DUMISANI SIBEKO Progressiv­e Profession­als Forum president Jimmy Manyi addressing the PPF. His excuses for ANN7 leave much to be desired.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa