Media Monday Bulletin
Posted: 1 November 2010 | News - Newsletter | Categories: Race, Xenophobia and Ethnicity, Democracy and Governance, Media Freedom and Performance
It’s been an interesting weekend for media matters, forget the good the bad and the ugly. Instead we had the bad, the terrible and the confusing – and plenty of comment worthy stuff in between.
Sunday Independent – Silenced before it had a chance to speak
It got off to a bad start with the North Gauteng High Court granted an interdict application against the Sunday Independent. It prevented the newspaper from running a story that allegedly dealt with “malfeasance and violation of laws by the SAPS crime intelligence.”
Perhaps there were legitimate national security reasons why elements of the story could not be published. Perhaps not. Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has no way of knowing. However, it is hard to know whether the court that granted the interdict order was in any better position to make such a judgment, as it made its decision in the absence of any lawyers for the defence. Surely a decision to gag a newspaper can only be made in the most serious of circumstances and when all the evidence is produced and examined?
It’s also regrettable that the Sunday Independent did not go into more detail explaining what had happened and how it came to pass that their story was censored, without their lawyers being in a position to argue the case for publication.
Nevertheless MMA is concerned that this is another example of a tendency towards secrecy, rather than transparency. Surely in the current environment, where there are serious concerns on the impact of the Protection of Information Bill on investigate journalism, courts should ensure that a decision to censor content is made only when it is in full possession of all the facts, and arguments from both sides have been heard?
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=51845
Cockroach comment "doomed"
Weekend media reported widely on the ANC Youth League President, Julius Malema, referring to the Western Cape Premiere as a cockroach.
During a ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the ANCYL, its President said: “You have put the cockroach in cabinet. People of the Western Cape, we are asking you to bring Doom to remove this cockroach… And Doom means voting for the ANC.” (fromhttp://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/malema-expects-to-be-disciplined-1.690296)
Mr Malema has every right, and indeed has demonstrated a fine ability, to engage robustly with public figures across the political spectrum on a diversity of challenging subjects. However Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) believes that his comparison of Premier Helen Zille to a cockroach is offensive, inappropriate and grossly insensitive given the word’s use and hideous connotations during the genocide in Rwanda, where it was used to incite the killing of Tutsis .
Mr Malema’s comments may not constitute hate speech as defined by in the Constitution. Unprotected speech must be both hatred AND incitement to cause harm. Indeed it appears that the ANCYL leader was careful to qualify his language so that it could not be interpreted as such, by clarifying that “to bring Doom”...”means voting for the ANC” and not to incite harm as might otherwise be interpreted.
What is clear however is that given our current context of racism and xenophobia and given our country’s history of dehumanisation on the basis of race, for the leader of the ANC Youth League at a celebration event and in the presence of the President, to make such comments is deeply concerning. Director of MMA, William Bird asked “What kind of message does it send to ordinary South Africans that the leader of the opposition can be dehumanised and that the democratic process that put her in government can be so crassly trashed by the leader of the youth league of the majority party with the President looking on?”
MMA has a proud history of independent analysis and commentary and we wish to reiterate that our condemnation of Mr Malema’s offensive speech does not indicate any level of support for the Democratic Alliance or its leader. Rather MMA’s critique is based on our view that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. To dehumanise another is neither clever nor strategic, it is a technique most commonly found during periods of conflict and war. However audiences may choose to interpret these comments, it would be difficult to imagine how they could be read to be in any way supportive of democratic discourse, debate and nation building. We call on our President to condemn these comments and for the ANC to take the appropriate action in line with its internal policies and procedures.
After this it was easy to choose Media Matters' Quote of the day for Media Monday
(Thank you @gussilber) Accidental political slogan of the year, by J Malema: "Doom means voting for the ANC."
Have a quote for #MediaMonday – post or tweet it!
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MAT Matters - Confused?
Media Matters is also hoping you can help clear up some confusion. We you at the ANCYL66th anniversary celebrations over the weekend? If so, you can help! Media Matters is trying to find out whether or not President Zuma contradicted his Deputy President – as has been reported - on the issue of the Media Appeals Tribunal.
This is his speech – or at least a version of it:
This version is consistent with the ANC’s position as set out by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe that the ANC is investigating the need for a Media Appeals Tribunal, but is also awaiting the outcome of the Press Council Review.
However news reports on his speech suggest that he went further. Sunday Times for example, quoted him as saying:"Self-regulation is not enough" adding that the media "like every sector must be regulated”.
Were you there? What was said? Let us know!
http://news.za.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=155135957
Finally for Media Monday, we want to congratulate Mr Roy Padayachie on his new appointment as Minister for Communications - we look forward to constructive engagement with in him on all things media in the near future.
Post your comments and views on these or any other media stories! And happy Media Monday!!
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