The proposal that a Media Tribunal be established to keep checks on the media has been met with indignation by many sectors of society. Would this mean a curtailment of the public's right to know? Or simply a method to slap the media on the wrist when they cross the line? Read what the CEO of the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business (PCB), Andrew Layman, has to say on the issue, as he tries to look at the topic from both sides.
"The Government’s Protection of Information Bill and the ANC’s proposal for the establishment of a Media Tribunal have brought the matters of the freedom of the press and the right of the public to know right into the foreground. People within the media have reacted with righteous indignation at the suggestion that their exposés might be curtailed. My view is that the public’s right to know, which is one of the rights enshrined in the constitution by the way, needs as much protection as possible, even if the media, on whom we rely to pass on information, is often less responsible than it should be.
Recently, for example, poster headlines proclaimed that “Mayor owes council R277 000”. This seemed to me to be a very unfortunate choice of headline. We have two mayors in the city and it would be a reasonable assumption on the part of local people who saw the headline on posters that either Mr Tarr or Mr Bhamjee was the one who had failed to pay his dues. Those who bought the newspaper would have discovered, on about page four, that it was the Mayor of Umngeni, in fact, who had been fingered. It is likely that people who didn’t read the paper are still of the view that one of our first citizens is the debtor. Such is the influence of the print media. It is interesting to reflect that the majority of the population does not read a newspaper. We think that if we “put something in the paper”, everyone will know about it. This is very far from the truth.
I don’t believe for a moment that the crafting of this headline was done with any intent to embarrass the Mayor. It was designed to sell papers. Headlines titillate the insatiable taste that the public has for sensationalism, so the publicity creates a desire-to-know which results in sales. As one who writes articles regularly, I am often astonished by the headlines that are attached by the sub-editors; sometimes they misrepresent badly what I have written. In one headline I remember, the view that I had expressed in the article was totally contradicted, but not because the person responsible was looking for the right selling pitch, but because he or she hadn’t read the article carefully enough.
In the last week, the Chamber has suffered some embarrassment by announcing to its members and others that COSATU was to engage in an illegal strike on Thursday 7th October. This was not true, but the source of the information was thought to be impeccable. What had happened was that someone had misinterpreted a sentence in a speech made by Zwelinzima Vavi who had said COSATU would “take to the streets” on the 7th to protest against labour brokers and the casualisation of labour. This was not the announcement of a strike, but a demonstration. I have learnt over the years that it is worth checking sources and the information that is relayed.
Many contemporary journalists, it seems, do not check. They publish information they are fed, often by people who use the media to pursue factional agendas of their own. Such is the extent of political back-stabbing that the media offers a wonderful opportunity for unscrupulous people to hit at their enemies. I’m not sure that all journalists want to check. After all, the truth is never quite so sensational. I don’t know that we want journalists to check either. We represent the market, after all, and we delight in scandals, celebrity trivia and any information, true or false, that brings some prominent person down. So, between us, we have compromised media integrity.
But whatever the negative effects of this may be, they are still infinitely preferable to a media that is unable to publish information that might expose corruption, fraud or incompetence because the leaders concerned would prefer this to be obscured."
This is an issue that we're going to follow closely next , and students will have to regularly debate this topic .
- Do research into the background of the issue of the establishment of a media tribunal and discuss this issue.
- What do YOU think the importance is of freedom of expression?
- Checking facts is vital to journalism. Discuss how this highlights the difference between real journalists and citizen journalists. (Do a search for a definition of citizen journalism and compile your own definition - ensure your sources are valid.)
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