What you think has been achieved by the Press Freedom Commission depends on what you hoped it might achieve. An improvement in our journalism? An end to careless errors and mistakes? Better protection for news subjects, particularly the vulnerable? Less pressure on the media from the government?
Continue Reading Add comment April 28th, 2012
When does a newspaper cross the line from selling space to selling its soul? This is a question raised by MTN’s recent Mahala Thursdays campaign which was splashed across all media - including newspaper front pages and headlines and other elements normally protected as sacrosanct editorial space.
Continue Reading Add comment April 18th, 2012
George Monbiot uses an example from Private Eye to show why we need greater transparency among journalists. It turns out that great magazine has not always practiced it as much as they have preached it …
Continue Reading Add comment March 13th, 2012
In the wake of relentless criticism of our journalism, some of it justified and much of it unjustified, and following the British tabloid phone-hacking scandal, we need to confront a basic reality: public trust in our work is at a low point. Even the best of our work - and there has been some very fine journalism in this country in recent years - is often treated with disdain, I told the Omega Investments 2nd Annual Constitution Conference yesterday.
Continue Reading Add comment March 8th, 2012
For the record, I have written to Makhudu Sefara the outgoing editor of the Sunday Independent, the incoming editor and the Press Council to set the record straight on Sefara’s column of today.
Continue Reading Add comment February 26th, 2012
I believe in the right of political party spokespersons to do their work without fear or hindrance. Many of us have fought for decades for the freedom that would allow them to operate in an open and democratic society. Lives were sacrificed in the fight to have their rights entrenched in the Constitution. But this freedom is being abused.
Continue Reading Add comment February 20th, 2012
Journalists in the traditional media dealt with their ethics through a set of established rules and practices. We should not accept gifts or freebies, or allow a conflict of interest in stories we cover. We should be immunised from the influence of advertisers. We should separate commentary and news reporting and convey the views of all parties to a story. The watchwords were objectivity and fairness, and these values were reflected in codes of conduct and newsroom rituals.
Continue Reading Add comment January 31st, 2012
There is a piece of what some might pass off as journalism in our newspaper today which is so infuriating that I cannot ignore it. It is a breathtaking exemplar of the dangers of bad science reporting. Under the strange headline “Scorched tree poser for cellphone giant”, the Saturday Star purports to take on the controversy over whether cellphone signals are causing damage to humans and the environment.
Continue Reading 9 comments January 28th, 2012
Was the symbolism of the ANC’s centenary celebration carefully chosen, or the result of lack of thought?
Continue Reading 1 comment January 15th, 2012
It has been a year of vigorous and healthy contestation. We have fought over the independence of the judiciary, the freedom of the media and the appropriateness of presidential appointments. We have seen combat in parliament, the courts, the streets, the ruling party, the biggest opposition party, the provinces, the cities, and even the cabinet. We have arm-wrestled over political power, policy, ideology, history, language and song lyrics.
Continue Reading 1 comment January 7th, 2012
We are apocalyptic, us South Africans. If our democracy is less than perfect, we say it is dying. If a Bill passed by parliament threatens journalists, it is the end of freedom and farewell to investigative reporting. If we lose a political battle, we think we have lost the final war.
Continue Reading Add comment January 7th, 2012
You might have noticed a pattern to local coverage of the Somali famine: it was almost all seen through the lens of one organization, Gift of the Givers (GOTG). I decided to find out more when I saw how many media organizations were “traveling with” GOTG, how much media coverage the organisation received, and how relentlessly positive it was.
Continue Reading Add comment January 7th, 2012
No individual impacted more on South African newspapers in recent years than Deon du Plessis, the Daily Sun publisher, who died on the weekend.
Continue Reading Add comment January 7th, 2012