Veterans tell how newspaper defied state oppression

YOU are 10 years too late, most of them are dead.

These are the words freelance journalist and filmmaker Marion Edmunds was confronted with when she sought people who worked at the Guardian newspaper.

The then-weekly newspaper was started in the 1930s and was kept alive by staff with limited resources but survived for almost 40 years, most of which were under the eye of the apartheid government.

It was known for its anti-apartheid stance and was often threatened and banned for the stories it published.

Edmunds took on the challenge to document the story of the newspaper starting by looking for some of the journalists who worked there. It was not going to be an easy task.

“Luckily, I did find a number of highly articulate people who were able to give me insights that animated the newspaper’s life and weekly news cycle,” she said.

“Trouble with Truth is the story of the power of print in the face of oppression. As the apartheid government clamped down on free political activity and speech, a cheeky, independent- minded weekly newspaper shouted its protests, against the odds in the racist South Africa of old,” Edmunds said.

The film tells the story through interviews with people who worked on and were associated with the paper such as Denis Goldberg, Mary Turok and Lynn Carneson, whose father Fred was a sig- nificant player in the Guardian newsroom. Goldberg, who is one of two surviving Rivonia Trialists, features in the film as he relays his childhood experience with the paper. Another significant figure captured on the film is former SACP vet- eran and editor, Brian Bunting, who has since died.

The film was commissioned by Sabido Productions which is part of e.tv.

It follows James Zug’s book The Guardian.

Edmunds said the Guardian newspaper of old had lessons for the media of today in its independence, passion of its journalists and position as a fearless voice.

“I believe that articulating a differing view to the mainstream helps to keep society healthy at best, and at times of oppression is a fundamental gesture of independence and absolutely vital to save an open society,” she said.

She said the film was not distributed via mainstream platforms but would be ideal for museums, libraries and journalism schools.

noloyiso.mtembu@inl.co.za

Scenes from the movie Trouble with Truth about the story of the contentious Guardian newspaper.