Media Monday - hot topics and topics that make us hopping mad! 29 August 2011

Here is what is on the menu this Media Monday:

• Sunday Times exclusive, or not…
• ANCYL activists in Limpopo aim at City Press
• Rwandan newspaper sucks up to President: an SA case?
• And how to receive our coveted MMC award?

The Sunday Times’ not-so exclusive story 

The Sunday Times this past Sunday featured a front page story about a shocking picture of a white male with a rifle posing over a seemingly lifeless black boy. The picture was apparently posted on one of the accounts on the social networking site Facebook, in the profile of a user called "Eugene Terrorblanche".

Titled “Wanted: Facebook racist”, the article tells about how the picture has sparked a police investigation, which the newspaper says “was sparked when the Sunday Times presented the link to the site to the authorities.” The paper spoke to those in government who matter on issues such as this one, from the Hawks who said they have launched an investigation into the matter, the police who also sang the same tune as the Hawks and the department of social development, to child rights advocacy groups and Women + Men Against Child Abuse.

All these sources made for a powerful if not concerning story, and a well-sourced exclusive. The only problem though was that it was NOT an exclusive which, even though it was not called as such, it sure as bananas was treated as one. The lively social networking site Twitter, which is home to many Twitteratti who matter in the media circles, proved the one to burst the Sunday Times’ bubble.

According to Chris Vick, writing for the news website Daily Maverick, most of the conversation on Twitter about this issue was the question why the Sunday Times made a fuss over an old photograph that’s been doing the rounds since three years ago, and why treats it as new at that when it is not? 702’s Mandy Weiner is said to have been the one to shed light on just how old the photograph and the story are by revealing that Eyewitness News exposed the picture in 2008.

Weiner tweeted that the Facebook group on which the photo was found was set up by students at North West University, and one student was expelled as a result of the 702 investigation. She also said that research at the time had indicated that the photo might have been a hoax.

But that was not all according to Vick, as the Mail and Guardian’s Yolandi Groenewald did an extensive expose of right-wing social media – including the North West University student website which posted the photograph featured in the Sunday Times – on 12 October 2008. And James Myburgh then tweeted that Beeld newspaper took the matter even further on 20 October 2008 with a lengthy discussion article on what the newspaper termed “new media racism”.

The latest and most interesting twist to the story was when it was found out that The Times, the Sunday Times’ daily sister paper, also ran with the story on 7 October 2008! And The Times editor at that time was Ray Hartley, the current editor of the Sunday Times!

TimesLIVE is now running a story about how the Facebook racist was lashed and how the Hawks said they contacted the man in the picture following the Sunday Times report. The story sources the Sunday Times’ editor Ray Hartley who was quoted to have said:

"If this is the same picture that was reported on earlier as being doctored, it is comforting to know that the child was not physically harmed. The fact remains that a very sick individual has this picture posted on his Facebook profile in 2011 along with a string of extremely racist remarks. The police are investigating this Facebook racist, who has concealed his identity, for very good reason and we believe the public should assist [them]."

The question here is whether the Sunday Times were unable to uncover that the story was old and has been ran by a couple of media including their own, or whether they knew but still chose to run with it. Whether it was termed an exclusive or not, the prominence and the manner in which it was splashed lead one to believe it may have been thought to be one.

Of course there is still a huge story in this matter no matter how old it may be as the photograph has been condemned by many including law enforcement authorities and experts in various fields. Concerns around the depiction of a child in the manner in which the boy in the picture has been is a major cause for concern, as is the picture in itself given the racial past of our country. Also of concern is the continued existence of such groups on social networking sites (and in society) as the one on which the picture was posted. But the media question remains here.

Isn’t this the splash of a similar magnitude with which the Sowetan (also an Avusa title) exercised with the “Sies!” story about two public service officers caught on camera making out while on duty? The story was old and by the time the Sowetan ran with it, the powers-that-be had already dealt with the two concerned officers accordingly and the Sowetan brought it back to light. As we understand correctly, even though unproven, it was only after the Sowetan article that the video started doing major rounds with a DVD featuring the officers even getting released for sale on the streets.

It this a cause for concern in Avusa? Some of the examples which may suggest so include (alongside the Sunday Times’ ‘Facebook racist’ and the Sowetan’s “Sies!” stories) are the recent Eric Miyeni debacle, the Kuli Roberts issue and the David Bullard one. And not forgetting the Sunday Times’ story about a communications tender in the Western Cape government. What can we make of all these stories?  Do you think these stories have undermined the media’s credibility?  Is it all media or just Avusa titles?  How do we fix it?

City Press must shut down! 

The ANCYL activists in the Limpopo Province have reportedly called for a total shut down of the weekly Sunday newspaper, the City Press. Reasons cited were that the publication was “an opposition party masquerading as a newspaper” and that it was partly-owned by an unnamed deputy leader of the Democratic Alliance.

The group has also called for the provincial government to starve the newspaper of ad-spend for the same reason, and expressed their boredom with the newspaper’s reports about corruption in the province, which they claim to be corruption-free. Whether or not the starvation or the closure is the ultimate price they want put on the paper, we have no idea.

City Press reports that Finance Minister Pravin Gordan last year launched an official investigation into corruption in the provincial government’s tender and procurement. The Limpopo government’s own supply chain management staff have complained to Premier Cassel Mathale about managers’ corruption processes. The paper has also reported about a provincial Director-General being suspended for tender irregularities and about some various hiring and firing of officials in the province.

It might have been those reports, but perhaps more likely what prompted the calls for the title’s closure were the paper’s claims of the Limpopo Mafia, central to which is ANCYL President Julius Malema and Limpopo Province Premier Cassel Mathale, apparently. City Press had revealed that “a small but powerful clique of politicians, senior bureaucrats and businessmen, led by Premier Cassel Mathale and the ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, has entwined business interests and has tightened its grip on the fiscus of Limpopo.”

Earlier this year the Premier of Limpopo Province called for the resignation of City Press editor Ferial Haffajee, saying the paper needed a new editor to return it to its days of credibility, reliability and quality in its reporting. The resignation call was retracted soon after that. The ANC in Limpopo has distanced ­itself from the group of activists calling for the closure of the newspaper though, but is it a case of where there is smoke there is fire? You decide.

The subject of the proposed media appeals tribunal is said to have even done the rounds during a meeting held in that province over the weekend at which Malema’s nationalization was endorsed.

Rwandan newspaper in the wrong, apologises by sucking up to the President 

In his contribution to the Sunday Times, Avusa Media’s public editor Joe Latakgomo drew interesting comparisons of a Rwandan President and media’s idea of an apology to the South African one. The opinion piece titled “How contrite should a newspaper be?” talks of a Rwandan newspaper that called that country’s most highest citizen, President Paul Kagame, a sociopath, and had to apologise for such an action. It is not the apology that is the bone of contention here, but the gratuitous manner in which it was carried out.

Severe consequences were faced and sizeable punishment meted out to those concerned in the newspaper involved. The chief editor resigned, saying he was not aware of the article, members of the Forum of Private Newspapers, an organisation of newspaper owners, suspended the paper’s managing director Fidele Gakire from the group for six months, there were demands for the state-run media ombudsman to reprimand Gakire, and the police also seized copies of the paper from vendors to prevent distribution.

Bringing all these closer to home, Latakgomo says that media critics in SA would probably welcome the resignation of the chief editor as fitting to the offence committed, as witnessed during the Eric Miyeni debacle, and the suspension of Gakire by the organization of newspapers would be welcomed as punishment in this case comes from Gakire’s peers and not the government.

The newspaper carried an apology for the offence caused, but apparently also dedicated the whole issue to the apology. Running alongside the apology were positive stories about the good that the President has done. But while the newspaper’s bravery in its apology and its move to attempt to rectify the wrong it has done, dedicating a whole edition to atone for misdeeds is just as bad for the media as the initial report as such would erode the public’s trust just as much as the initial report would, says Latakgomo.

Back to South Africa again, Latakgomo stresses the need for our media to not sink to a level where they are so scared of the powers-that-be in government that they take actions such as taken by Gakire in Rwanda. He says there are other remedies in this country to make up for such action by the media, and opposes control of the media by the state as that would lead to the kind of distortion to the journalistic profession.

But the media should also be on the look out for any action on its past that would warrant for state intervention, such as the Eric Miyeni issue (again). Lapses by news gatekeepers need to be done away with, and the necessary checks and balances should be put in place and stressed upon to prevent such content of Miyeni’s and the Sunday Times’ (remember the Western Cape communications tender report?) nature seeping through into public space.

The interesting common factor in this opinion piece/analysis is the use of examples of editorial lapses by Avusa titles, by an Avusa editor. The same media house which is home to the newspaper we referred to above, that has run with an old story and treated it as new, even after its sister publication ran with the same story three years ago. And it’s the same media house that was viewed to be engaging in an act of secrecy by stalling and sending a journalist from pillar to post in her quest to have the company release a report about its editorial dealings.

Latakgomo has come out in condemnation of the Sowetan for the “Sies!” story, and he sounds to be doing the same with Eric Miyeni in this opinion piece. But where are people like him when articles such as these end up in the public domain and leaving the company with a not-so-pretty image? Maybe he should also ensure stringent measures on his gate as the public editor, while at the same time making sure other gates are kept shut at all times. Just maybe! What do you think?

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