Beware gutter journalism
Juicy stories pursued with scant regard for impact on those affected
“IF YOU cannot provide readers with some independent evidence, I think it is wrong to report the suppositions or concerns of anonymous aides about whether the boss is getting into the wrong bed.”
The Times ombudsman Clark Hoyt wrote this in the wake of a story The New York Times published in 2008 suggesting then presidential candidate, senator John Mccain, was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist.
The conclusion by the American press ombud aptly captures the dangerous media landscape we find ourselves in as we approach the 2019 general elections.
Some in our media have assumed the role of being the judge and executioner in their reporting on the ANC and its leaders.
This is by no means a new phenomenon, but journalists have become brazen in their disregard for ethics in pursuit of a “juicy” story, irrespective of the damage publishing what amounts to gossip will do to those affected.
Some media houses continue to tacitly condone a practice where journalists pass off
their opinions as fact, with no attempt to corroborate the stories. This is worse than being misled by faceless sources.
The opinion piece titled “ANC Wars:
The bough is breaking, when will the cradle fall?” penned by Pieter du Toit and published on News24, gives us a glimpse of his vivid imagination and exposes his limited understanding of the dynamics within the ANC.
His cloak-and-dagger narrative of villains and angels within the ANC could not be further from the truth.
More damaging are his assertions, not based on any evidence or corroboration from any source, that in my capacity as deputy secretarygeneral, I am pursuing a factional agenda that seeks to undermine ANC presidency head Zizi Kodwa.
It is no fallacy that we emerged from Nasrec divided, as we do out of any all our elective conferences. But for many of us, the ANC is the only real bulwark against the enslavement of the majority of the working class in South Africa. Our policies are clear: we need to ensure we are able to drive an economic policy framework that will assist with changing the structure of our economy and ensure inclusivity.
Creating jobs is the business of business and the state is responsible for creating the environment for business to do so. This must include the effective growth of black business in a sustainable way.
There are differing perspectives within the ANC which are debated robustly. Such is the vibrancy of ANC’S internal democracy. Attacks on the ANC, veiled as supporting the president against dark angels within, is a tired strategy that has lost its appeal.
In a highly speculative article, Carien du Plessis makes a bold claim that “ANC insiders say the complainant in the Kodwa case is a former partner of Legoete, something which could set off a fresh round of conspiracy theories”. The only conspiracy here is the one being peddled by Ms Du Plessis in the name of journalism. It is rather instructive that the sentence has since been edited out of the article post its publication.
This level of desperation to invent false narratives by journalists is dangerous for our society and demonstrates a degeneration of investigative journalism to nothing more than gutter journalism that seeks to destroy rather than build a nation.
If this rot is allowed to set in and not rooted out, then we must be all afraid.
Media freedom is sacrosanct to our democracy and so is the right to dignity for every citizen.
The South African National Editors’ Forum has a responsibility to ensure that journalists subscribe to the strictest code of ethics that recognises that the exercise of rights is reciprocal.
No right should be enforced at the expense of another, unless permitted by the constitution.