From the People’s Paper to the Presidency’s Paper

November 4th, 2007

A journalist yesterday asked me if the attempt by ANC figures, including some who hold official positions in the presidency and in foreign affairs, to buy one of the country’s biggest media houses is remniscent of the Info Scandal of the 1970s. It is not, and the distinction is important.

In the Info Scandal, government money was secretly channeled to a sympathetic businessman, Louis Luyt, to try and buy the Rand Daily Mail, then a leading government critic, and when this failed, to launch The Citizen newspaper. The scandal lay in the secrecy, and the abuse of state resources to try and take out a vocal opponent of government.

This time around, it appears to be an open bid by a group of individuals who are entitled to do it in their personal capacities. What is unusual, however, is that a number of them are government officials, in key places such as the presidency and foreign affairs, and senior ruling party members. It seems they seek funding from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), but this is what the PIC does it and as long as it gives them no special treatment, and makes a decision on solid business grounds, I cannot see grounds for complaint at this technical level.

Questions will be asked, however, if the PIC backs them in paying the very high premium price which appears to be on the table. If the PIC backs a bid that is highly-priced, it will raise suspicion that their decisions are being influenced by political, rather than purely business, considerations.

But it remains a very worrying development. We live in a country dominated by one strong political party, which is securely in office, has very little political opposition and has deployed its cadres in almost every corner of the polity and economy. Parliament has been weakened, and the judiciary too is under pressure. One institution which stands as a counter to state power, and which has been relatively independent, outspoken and fearless in its watchdog function, is the media, particularly the newspapers.

Broadcasting is dominated by a massive public broadcaster, with three television and 17 radio stations, and is run by people who describe themselves as “Deployed Cadres” of the ANC (as Dali Mpofu’s label identified him at the recent ANC policy conference). If the ANC has its hands on that, and now may get its hands on the Sunday Times, the Times, the Sowetan and 50% of Business Day and the Financial Mail, it will be a huge blow for media diversity and the capacity of journalists to play their watchdog role.

This happens against a background in which the Sunday Times and the presidency have been at loggerheads, with the former having published a series of stories highly embarrassing to the latter. Representatives of the presidency and the ANC have been accusing the newspaper of abusing its freedom and calling for something to be done about it. Singled out for particular venom has been editor Mondli Makhanya.

Now it seems that the ANC might get its hands on the paper though a bunch of surrogates. If this happens, you can expect the editor to get short shrift and the Sunday Times to lose its bite. The government will be holding the watchdog’s leash.

The Sunday Times has run one of the most succesful and well-resourced investigative teams in the country. I expect that this is one area where the new shareholders may feel inclined to cut costs, particularly if they are paying back heavy PIC loans.

It will be a massive blow to media diversity, a muzzling of the media watchdog and a setback for a democracy which needs more open debate and discussion and more vigorous examination of government and its policies. The last thing we need is a curtailment of an outspoken and critical voice.

Let me put it this way: the next time the government makes a serious error, such as it did for a number of costly years in HIV/AIDS policy, those voices pushing for a rectification will be more muted. It will be that much harder to push the government to pay attention to areas where it is falling short on delivery of social needs, such as housing and education.

Interestingly, ANC media policy currently highlights the need for greater diversity in our media, and no doubt some of them will argue that government needs a louder voice in the media and this is adding to the diversity. But they are wrong - media diversity should serve to give voice to the voiceless, those most distant from wealth and power, and not those who hold and wield the enormous authority of the state.

A few days ago, I expressed concern about the implications of Tokyo Sexwale, a presidential candidate, owning the Sunday Times. This pales into insignificance against the prospect of members of the Sunday Times board actually sitting in government offices, like the Afrikaans media of the apartheid era.

Some will argue that this is just a transaction by some individual exercising their rights in a free market. Well, it is more than that and it has consequences and implications we cannot ignore. If these individuals want to show that they are not doing it as state officials, they should resign from government so that they are not conflicted between their political obligations and their business/editorial ones.

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Media regulation, Print