 Political blackmail: Personal attacks will not silence the media ONE of the cornerstones of any healthy democracy is a press that is free, robust and independent. This does not only mean rights to media freedom should be legally codified. It also means we must develop and nurture a public space that is conducive to a flourishing and free press. It is therefore important to be vigilant about threats to a free media. This is why we condemn in the strongest possible terms the blatant attempts by some within the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) to close the space within which the media can breathe and flourish. Worse, in fact, is the use of intimidation and fear tactics, such as threats to divulge deeply personal facts about particular journalists, all of which is clearly designed to kill politically sensitive stories that might be damaging to the ANCYL leadership’s bling brand. We laud the quality of investigative and political journalism among our colleagues that have spawned this unethical response from the young politicians. We must not be driven to self-censorship. Clearly these young lions hope that journalists will now think twice about their story selection. We should not. However, what is particularly disturbing about the league’s tactics is that the aggressive tone they are employing, coupled with mysterious access to data that should not be available to them, smacks of a possible return to Mbeki-era use of state machinery to silence opponents — but this time extending the unethical game to the media. This betrays an arrogant sense of political invincibility that is bolstered by the silence of political elders within the ANC. The president should show leadership and condemn the youngsters. This is not to suggest that all journalism is free of ideological agendas or even unethical behaviour. Bad apples exist in all professions. Economic journalism, and not just political journalism, sometimes suffers from ethical lapses. We would welcome the exposure of any illegal activity that a journalist engages in. Such information, if it exists, should be handed over to the police rather than used for pernicious political ends. Further , we would urge aggrieved politicians to first make use of mechanisms such as the Press Ombudsman rather than using slander, innuendo and threats as a first line of defence when feeling aggrieved. Conversely, journalists will best guard their media freedoms by speaking with one industry voice through leadership structures such as the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef). To this end, Sanef’s expressed view that the media be allowed to play its role as “the constitutionally protected watchdog for the public” is welcomed. Ultimately, the best response to these thuggish threats is to simply continue unabated in producing journalistic works of excellence. We will continue to do so fearlessly. -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . To unsubscribe from this group, send email to yclsa-eom-forum+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject. |
