» That was a stupid move, Helen

That was a stupid move, Helen

February 18th, 2011

The Democratic Alliance held the high ground on media freedom - and then gave it away when they “blacklisted” a journalist.

What the party did in taking Anna Majavu, the Sowetan’s political corresondent, off their mailing list was foolish and petty. And the reason they gave for it - citing her previous employment as a unionist was pathetic.

Lots of journalists have spells outside of journalism - sadly - and return to do a perfectly good job. Why they should pick on the employment record of this particular journalist is not clear at all.

The DA clearly does not like or trust this reporter, and that is their entitlement. But to target her in this small-minded way is very foolish.

I am not going to deal with the merits of Majavu’s reporting. There are ways of dealing with these issues, but “blacklisting” her is not as sensible one - particularly when you are quick to accuse other political parties of interolance of views they disagree with.

DA leader Helen Zille, herself a former journalist, should have known better. This move has tarnished their reputation on media freedom, exposed them to severe criticism, for little gain on the other side. The reporters, after all, can now continue to report and have an excuse for not carrying the view of the DA.

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Media regulation

1 Comment Add your own

1. ilagardien | March 22nd, 2011 at 2:45 am

…it’s ironic, don’t you think, that, in so many ways, we become like that which we have fought against….

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Anton Harber: Media

Professor Anton Harber directs the Journalism and Media Studies Programme at Wits University. He is former editor of the Mail & Guardian.
Full bio

Daily newspaper sales, South Africa
(Ave sales Jul-Dec)
1960 - 681 053 (Population 17,3m)
1970 - 723 566 (22m)
1980 - 803 229 (27,5m)
1990 - 1 214 396 (35,2m)
2000 - 1 117 886 (44m)
2006 - 1 600 000 (47,3m)
2011 - 1 310 000 (49m)

(Sources: ABC and nationmaster.com)

“It was pure political theatre. The excited room was filled with government officials, government consultants, quasi-government agencies, politicians and pupils from government schools. As if on cue, the room rang with applause as one education victory after another was claimed. This was, after all, the annual drama in which the minister of basic education appears on stage to announce the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results …” - Educationist Jonathan Jansen, one of the few with the credibility to look critically at this “celebratory orgy of mediocrity”.

“The (Incwala) ceremony is cloaked in secrecy and marks the (Swaziland) king’s return to public life after a period of withdrawal and spiritual contemplation. Among its highlights is a symbolic demonstration by the king of his power and dominance in a process involving his penetration of a black bull … But last year’s selected bull, according to a recent account from a whistle-blowing Incwala initiate, objected strongly, and threw off Africa’s last absolute monarch.” - Some surprises in this (un-bylined) account of Swaziland politics in Southern African Report

“When the Great Zucchini arrived that Saturday morning, Don had no idea who he was. Frankly, he didn’t look like a great anything. He looked like a house painter, Don thought, with some justification. He wears no costume. He was in painter’s pants, a coffee-stained shirt and a two-day growth of beard. He toted his beat-up props in beat-up steamer trunks, with ripped faux leather and broken hinges hanging askew.” - A classic of magazine profiling, by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post.

Diepsloot (Jonathan Ball, 2011)

Diesploot: Of Frogs and Fractals, a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg, 4 August 2011

Troublemakers - The Best of South Africa’s Investigative Journalism (Jacana, 2101), edited by Anton Harber and Margaret Renn

Introduction - The Troublemakers: An account of the rise of a new wave of investigative journalism in South Africa.

What is Left Unsaid: Reporting the South African HIV Epidemic, edited by Kristin Palitza, Natalie Ridgard, Helen Struthers and Anton Harber (Fanele, 2010)