Media Matters’ Monday Bulletin

Posted: 28 March 2011 | News - Newsletter | Categories: Gender, Democracy and Governance, Media Freedom and Performance

Here’s what’s on Monday’s Media Menu today!

  • Are women merely Mrs to the media?
  • Manyi’s new media manoeuvre
  • Sting operation at SABC
  • Did SAPA pass our #ElectionWatch test?

Shrugging off familial definitions in the media

Sanelisi Audrey Mncwango, a woman who holds the post of a community services manager at KwaNongoma municipality, was welcomed by back to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) a day after she had defected to the National Freedom Party (NFP). Mrs Mncwango was quoted as saying that she has realised that her decision was ill-thought through, ill-advised and that she did not fully understand the implications of her actions. It’s an interesting elections story, but what got our attention was how it was reported.

Take a look at these headlines:

TimesLIVE ran with “IFP man's wife back after joining NFP”; IOL’s headline read “Mncwango's wife defects”; while the The Witness had “IFP: Mncwango’s wife ‘not joining NFP’”. Spot the common denominator in these headlines? We did!

We could not help but notice that all of them defined her as an important person’s “wife”, rather than as someone in her own right. Despite the fact that Mrs. Mncwango occupies a responsible position in one of the municipalities in the KwaZulu-Natal province, she was constantly defined by her relationship to her husband, which begs the question, why do women struggle to exist in their own individual capacities?

And this isn’t a once off, women are often defined in the news in terms of their familial relationships. Axed SABC group executive Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande was also subjected to the same type reporting when it was announced that she was leaving the broadcaster, with most media defining her as the wife of Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande. We’re sure that the media must occasionally do the same with men, but when was the last time you saw a headline “So and so’s husband ...”?

Feel free to alert us and share with the Media Matters masses if you also spot this trend in the media. In the meantime, we look forward to the day when people, especially women, are reported on in their own right without familial attachments defining them. 

For more interesting debates on issues of gender and media check out our sister project Gender Matters on facebook and twitter.

‎If you cant beat them, launch your own newspaper

This past weekend saw an announcement by head of government communications, Jimmy Manyi, that the government is launching its own newspaper.

City Press revealed that the government’s bi-monthly magazine, Vuk’uzenzele, will be turned into a monthly tabloid newspaper with a print run of two million from next month, and Manyi’s plan is to publish it fortnightly by March next year.

Among Manyi's reported reasons for launching the paper is the media’s alledged “censoring” of a lot of government information, with the GCIS spokesperson giving the example of journalists who come to government news conferences where ten issues get raised, only covering one of those issues. He may have a point and we’d be interested in your views on the validity of such allegations.

But while you’re chewing that one over, let’s consider the logistics for a minute. It was announced that with each edition, 1 000 posters will be distributed; more staff might be hired in addition to the Vuk’usenzele staff that will run the paper; the newspaper will be published in all 11 official languages, and will be for free; with one edition said to be expected to cost government more than R1 million to print. Some of this is similar to Vuk’usenzele - which is provided in all 11 languages, but Manyi was quoted as saying that this new initiative will be “the biggest newspaper in the country.”

There is clearly merit in hearing what the government is doing, and to what extent it fulfils many of the promises it makes at election time – but what about the cost? The estimated R1million per edition is a hefty price tag for a paper full of government press releases.

Well according to City Press Manyi also has a suggestion to limit the cost to the exchequer – he raised the possibility of commercial advertising, although he doesn’t appear to have made his mind up yet on whether this is the way to go.

This raises all sorts of other issues – potential conflicts of interest from companies competing for tenders paying lots of money to advertise in a state paper for example. It also may have a serious impact on the advertising available for independent media – though we doubt Manyi is likely to shed a tear over them.

Industry expert and academic Jane Duncan has expressed her reservations about Manyi’s planned paper. Duncan was quoted in City Press saying that the launch of a government newspaper was not an answer to problems cited by Manyi, and suggested that government should instead support independent newspapers and invest in implementing diversity measures in the print industry.

Business Day reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has questioned the motive behind and financial implications of the publication; the Freedom Front Plus called it a political propaganda; while The Sowetan quoted policy analyst Elvis Masoga saying it was not only unconstitutional for a democratic government to do this, but it was also unethical. What are your views on this matter?

Protection of Information Bill deadline extended

Have you heard about the deadline for Parliament's ad hoc committee deliberations on the Protection of Information Bill being extended to 24 June 2011? The National Assembly has passed a resolution proposed by the ANC to re-establish the ad hoc committee after it essentially ceased to exist on January 28 when it failed to complete its deliberations on the Bill on time. The solution: the committee will be re-established with the same membership and mandate as its predecessor to revise and finalise the bill.

Given the contentious nature of the bill, is it just a coincidence that the extension date is well after the municipal elections? We don’t know, but it’s an interesting theory. At any rate this Bill is still important and hotly contested, and it’s an issue that should not evade the public’s attention. Now is not a time for POI Bill fatigue. So, keep your ears on the ground and alert us too if you hear anything about it!

Spy games at SABC uncover bribe scam

Tenders, bribes and hidden cameras – its not the plot line of a soapie, or the latest Special Assignment expose! Nope this is how a bribery scam at SABC was allegedly uncovered.

Apparently some SABC staff were asking for a pay off of R200,000 in return for contracts to produce sports promos. One of the production companies allegedly contacted SABC to inform them that they’d be asked for a bribe. So the sting was set in motion and hidden cameras allegedly captured the transaction – and now six SABC staff have been suspended.

An SABC source was quoted in the Mail and Guardian saying that this was “a significant breakthrough” and that they “will now get to the bottom of the internal problems they’ve been having in procurement” – which suggests that this was not a once off. This of course begs the question: how much money has been sloshing around in order to secure production contracts from the public service broadcaster, and which production companies have been forking out for the privilege? We’re glad at least one was brave enough to just say no!

Media movers and shakers - keeping you up to date

In our last bulletin we pondered SABC’s forward planning – or lack of it – when it came to Caesar Molebatsi leaving SAfm’s AM Live. We promised to keep you posted on who’s to take over presenting the flag ship morning show, and true to our word we’re giving you the latest! Florence Letoaba is filling his shoes – for now at least!

#ElectionWatch Update

So last week we got a great reception to our newest initiative Election Watch: Bias Patrol. We want to know if you think any media item is biased in favour of one political party over another in the run up to the local elections.

Here were some of the comments from our media matters enthusiasts last week on two SAPA articles that dealt with the same issue but in very different ways. “Court dismisses ANC ECape list case” was published on TimesLIVE and “ANC vindicated by Eastern Cape court ruling” by The New Age, however both faithfully reproduced the SAPA copy (we posted the original copy on our #ElectionWatch discussions page).

Not only did Media Matters enthusiasts feel that one clearly came across as unbalanced, but they was some surprise that both of these stories came from the same editors desk. So was there an agenda – or was this lazy journalism that simply reproduced a press release and made no effort to balance the story. And is it acceptable either way? And what of the choices made to reproduce one piece of copy over another? The New Age’s choice was certainly an unpopular one with our contributors!

Michelle Solomon: The New Age story is biased in its headline already. The ANC was not "vindicated" of anything - the ruling only served to say the ANC branches had no standing to sue the mother body. That does not mean the branches' application had no merit in the first place, hence the ANC was not 'vindicated' of anything here. Also, the New Age story quotes Mthembu extensively, but does not bother to quote from those who launched the application in the first place - again making it an unbalanced story. The story also doesn't explain how the ANC branches sought to "frustrate the ANC's democratic processes", whereas the TimesLive story does give some (though inadequate) explanation in that regard.

Michelle Solomon: Are the stories both original 'word-for-word' Sapa copy, or are they loosely based on the originals? That would be interesting in that Sapa takes different editorial lines - just because the New Age/Sapa story focuses on Mthembu's statement doesn't mean it should exclude responses from those ANC members who filed the suit, or other political analysis/commentary. It makes the story vulnerable to allegations of bias and of being unbalanced.

@CarmelRickard: Thanks for these two links. The stories are a text book example - maybe sd be used in journ class to illustrate bias!

@superbronn: Wow, 1st New Age article I've ever read. Will not bother to read another. ANC mouthpiece much? Much like SABC3 news. #fail

And as promised – to ensure #ElectionWatch has an impact – we’ll be passing on these comments to SAPA and The New Age. 

Our newest MMC

And finally our newest MMC is a relatively new contributor and a lawyer with a passion for media. In one of his earliest contribution Mlungisi Mabuza pondered “all the fuss” about The New Age. His verdict on the new kid on the newspaper scene is that it’s a “fairly balanced paper”, and he refuses to fall for the trap that he says was set by competitors, by labelling it a “government mouthpiece.”

And would you like to be an MMC – Media Matters Commentator? Well if you join in the discussions on our facebook and twitter pages, and add your voice to our media debates, who knows, the next MMC could be you!