Jerks and knee-jerks

April 17th, 2011

That crumpling sound you are hearing is the sound of knees jerking. It is the traditional soundtrack for much of our journalism, but it has been particularly loud in recent weeks on one particular story.

“The dirty tricks man” was what one over-the-top newspaper this week called Jimmy Manyi when the head of government communications announced that he would be turning a monthly government magazine into a newspaper.

Now, I am no fan of Mr Manyi and his foolish utterances. I rather doubt that he is in the right job, and am certain his penchant for making himself the subject of every story makes it difficult to be an effective government spokesperson. But all he said was that he was going to turn a magazine launched by his respected predecessor, Joel Netshitenze, into a different format and print and distribute more free copies.

The reaction to the launch late last year of the New Age newspaper was much the same: journalists mocked it, and reveled in its apparent difficulties on the basis that it had declared up front its support for the ruling party.

When five of its top editors resigned on the eve of the paper’s planned launch, forcing postponement, many journalists were gleeful, forgetting the need to remind both themselves and their readers that they had a vested interest in this story about a potential competitor. New Age’s every move has been aggressively scrutinized.

You see, journalists were saying, a newspaper that is ideologically bound cannot succeed – unlike us objective professionals who serve no political master except the marketplace.

They are being foolishly myopic.

Apart from the rather silly notion that their own publications are somehow above the political fray, their own ownership is irrelevant and they themselves are magically and impeccably neutral, there is something wrong when journalists do not welcome new newspapers and the competition, jobs and diversity they bring.

The exception to this was when the apartheid government used secret government funds to launch the Citizen newspaper. That was illegal, and journalists were right to snub it for many years.

Mr Manyi must be watched to ensure his newspaper serves government and the public need for information flow, and does not stray near party politics. And we will need to be sure that government advertising money is not manipulated to prop up supporters and punish critics. Other media should continue to keep a close eye on the shenanigans of New Age’s proprietors, the Gupta-Zuma family.

But government does have a lot of information it needs to get out to citizens, and they need to do it in all languages and not just the three in which we get commercial newspapers. Nothing wrong with Mr Manyi doing this.

The New Age newspaper has been open about where its money and politics come from. If these publications add to our openness and diversity, if they add to the public cloud of ideas and opinion, we should be hoping they succeed in finding their place.

I have been disappointed by the dullness of New Age, and its lack of character. In its determination to give coverage to all our provinces, it is wasting precious space with junk news. Indeed, this may be the fate of a paper trying to serve a party that is itself divided.

But it would be damaging to our media and our politics if the newspaper were to disappear. If the ANC feels that it does not get a fair shot in the commercial media, it should have its own voice. I suspect that what is being learned above all else is how difficult it is to produce a quality, credible newspaper. And that is a lesson well learnt.

Similiarly, if Mr Manyi thinks his newspaper is going to compete with its commercial rivals, or that it supplants his need to get the message into the mainstream media, then he is even worse equipped for his current job than I thought. It will be interesting to see if he can break the government habit of believing that communication consists of stock pictures of ministers and transcripts of boring speeches.

He might do better to start with improving government advertising.

*This column first appeared in Business Day, 30 March 2011

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Media regulation