Media Monday - hot topics and topics that make us hopping mad! May 23, 2011

Posted: 23 May 2011 | News - Newsletter | Categories: Democracy and Governance, Media Freedom and Performance

On offer this Media Monday:

  • The latest on what is happening with the Protection of Information Bill
  • Mampara of the week: Faku something…
  • Elections headlines: what are the agendas?
  • Anton Hammerl: another loss to journalism
  • And our newest MMC!

Protection of Information Bill update 

The ad-hoc Parliamentary Committee dealing with the Protection of Information Bill will meet tomorrow (24 May 2011) in what could be the final countdown to the Bill after the ANC has made it public that they would like for the Bill to be finalised by the 24th of June this year. The civil society group, Right 2 Know campaign, has indicated their unhappiness at this latest development, citing among other things, the time constraints to finalising the Bill and the ANC’s stance on the Bill.

As it stands, the Committee’s work has been very slow, with only two of the 51 clauses reported to have been finalised.

Some sticking points from opposition parties and civil society groups still remain to be dealt with and agreed upon by the Committee. The Mail and Guardian reports that “The concessions, or progress, so far include that the broad concept of "national interest" has been tapered down to the more restrictive "national security", that the Bill no longer provides for commercial secrecy and that whistle-blower protection for state employees will be granted. But there is still no public interest defence.”

With key concerns still not agreed upon, one wonders how the ANC thinks that the Bill will be finalised by the said date. We guess that tomorrow’s meeting will shed some light into how, itf at all possible the deadline will be met. By the looks of it though, it still looks like a blanket of secrecy is still flying around, trying to cover everything that the ANC and the state feel needs to be covered.

The media and journalists aren’t the only ones who will be impacted by the Bill.  In its current form civil society organisations and ordinary citizens will struggle to get access to public information.  If you think this hard now imagine if they have, “its information that nees t be protected” excuse..  Lets hope principles of openness and transparency prevail… Anyway, we will just have to wait and see what happens, wont we?

ANC leader calls for media’s head 

Following his alleged incitement to burn down The Herald newspaper, the Sunday Times and TimesLIVE has named the ANC Nelson Mandela Bay chairperson Nceba Faku its ‘Mampara of the Week’. We would like to expresses our sadness in letting TimesLIVE beat us to giving this Faku guy the Mampara of the Week title, as we would have loved to be the ones handing it to him. Water under the bridge though, we do not hold grudges!

This Faku character cited the crowds to burn down the newspaper while his party was celebrating its municipal election victory in the metro. Sounded like a bitter victory indeed, and the spite was saved not for the opposition parties but the media, Apparently “the media” worked in cahoots with the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in campaigning against the ANC! That is according to Faku, who also called for blacks who voted for "white" parties to be driven into the sea. The ANC does not believe that its very own Faku said that though!

It is rather interesting that the ANC is in some way saying that “the media” was biased against them during the elections. The question is, which media are they talking about? Is it print media or all media including the public broadcaster, SABC?

If we recall correctly, it was the DA who complained about ANC bias in SABC coverage of elections, with Azapo even calling for a public boycott of TV licences in protest to SABC’s “unfair and unequal” coverage of various political parties. MMA analysis also found ANC bias in Morning Live’s May 11 broadcast.

It looks to us then that the ANC was actually the one making a killing in terms of positive election coverage; so much so that the party’s young guns applauded the SABC for what they termed “fair and balanced coverage of the 2011 Local Government Elections”.

We have learnt that the IEC have just declared the 2011 Local Government Elections free and fair, and we have not heard anything about the ANC contesting this declaration. Is it a sign that ANC also agrees with IEC about the election being free and fair? But how can IEC make such a declaration and for the ANC to agree with it, if “the media” was so clearly and systematically biased against the ANC in the run up to the election? Surely the election cannot be declared free and fair if one party’s battle was between it and “the media” as opposed to opposition parties! It seems like a pretty serious allegation to make that “the media” were the biggest opposition, if it was the case, especially given the issues around a media appeals tribunal (MAT), we think they should make their case, put forward examples, - lets have the debate rather than being asked to simply accept that “the media” were the biggest opposition.

What are we to make of this, because we are a little confused here? Help us figure this out by posting your views on this matter! What are your thoughts on this?

Election results, as reported by the media… 

Consider these election results headlines: “ANC wins, but…”; “Major shake-up is on the cards for the ANC: Ruling party loses support to the DA in eight out of nine provinces”; “ANC in charge, DA grows support”; “DA gains ground” (The Citizen, 20 May 2011); “ANC stable, DA maybe up, NFP surprises”. Feel free to point in our direction some newspaper headlines you have come across.

How do you think media reported on the elections results? What angles were taken by different media? Do you feel any bias against, or in favour of, certain parties in terms of the reporting suggested by the headlines? Based on these do you think the ANC has a point about “the media” being the biggest opposition? 

Industry grieves Hammerl’s death 

Following weeks of speculation and the media seeking answers from the South African government regarding missing photographer Anton Hammerl’s whereabouts, his family received the sad news of his passing, 44 days later!

A blame-game ensued after the announcement, with some questioning SA government’s role in and handling of this tragic news, and our government pointing a finger at the Libyan government’s secrecy in this whole issue.

As various organisations, saddened by the news, are calling for an investigation into Hammerl’s death, the focus is now on making sure Hammerl's remains are repatriated.

News of Hammerl’s death followed less than a month after reports of the death of a SABC journalist and reporter, Kgomotso Sebetso, who died in a car crash on May 10, 2011. The South African journalism fraternity has suffered a great loss this year already and Media Matters family would like to express its condolences to both the Hammerl and Sebetso families and to the media industry in general, for the loss!  Next time you feel inclined to slam the media consider those who risk their lives on a daily basis to help inform us of what’s going on in the world.

And our newest MMC who breathes everything media! 

Our newest MMC for this week, Avhasei Tshivhase (@archie_prince on Twitter)  is a Media Studies graduate from Wits University, and strongly believes that the media landscape can change for the better. Avhasei breathes everything media, EVERYTHING! You can also join media discussions and debates on our Facebook and Twitter pages and who knows, you too can be honoured with our prestigious Media Matters Commentator (MMC) award.