Come on, New Age, you can do better than this!

January 3rd, 2011

Sandi Majali was a large and interesting South Africa character: loved and hated, admired and maligned. This controversial businessman who was buried this week was many things but definitely not straightforward and one-dimensional. Unless you rely on The New Age (TNA) newspaper.

Given TNA’s positioning (independent but aligned to the ANC), I am watching closely to see what this means and what kind of journalism this produces. So it is useful to compare their coverage of a story like this with other newspapers.

TNA’s headline was “Majali memorial attracts bigwigs”. They listed two politicians and one unionist among the 150 people who attended the service and said that “speaker after speaker heaped praise on Majali for his role in economic transformation in South Africa”.

They quoted deputy minister Ngoako Ramathlodi as defending Malaji’s donation of R11-m of PetroSA money to the ANC. They quoted a unionist, Satawu president Ezrom Mabyana praising him for “his vision to empower black people”.

Advocate Dumisa Ntsebenza, who represented Malaji in the current case where he was accused of “stealing” a company from other black empowerments owners , as a “law-abiding citizen”.

Apart from family and funeral details, that was it from TNA.

It did not tell you substantially why the R11-m donation was controversial, perhaps even illegal. It did not tell you that he was facing charges for “stealing” the company. It did not point out that senior ANC politicians were notably absent from the event. It did not tell you that the media was severely criticised at the service, even accused of some responsibility in Majali’s sudden and mysterious death.

Compare this to The Star’s coverage, which I chose because the Star is also a general interest newspaper aimed at the middle of the market, making it a fair comparison.

The Star’s coverage was not ungenerous, leading on the fact that speakers felt strongly that Majali had been “unfairly prosecuted in the court of public opinion”. They told us in paragraph two that the media was seen as “instrumental” in this.

They quoted Ramathlodi saying Majali was attacked because he supported the ANC and refused to front for white business. Also, former intelligence director-general Billy Masetlha was scathing about the media and investigative journalists.

At least in The Star one gets a sense of a controversial character, not necessarily an angel, although they were also thin on the current charges against the man.

If TNA is going to deliver half-baked stories in this way, and avoid controversy so obviously, then it is going to be a very dull paper. Of course one has to deal sensitively with the dead, and show consideration to their families, but this cannot mean that one simply ignores pertinent facts.

Such a partial picture of an important and controversial figure is a breach of the fundamental tasks and obligations of journalism. Come on, TNA, you can do better than this!

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Print