*CWU ON PRESS OMBUDSMAN* * *
*26 June 2013* The recent ruling of the Press Ombudsman in the matter involving Cde Dina Pule shows that the self-regulation of the media is not effective to root out bad elements in the South African media. The Press Ombudsman has cleared the Sunday Times for breaching the Press Code despite evidence pointing to political meddling in the Sunday Times coverage of Cde Dina Pule. The Sunday Times has admitted handing over information relating to Cde Dina Pule to the Democratic Alliance (DA) yet the Press Ombudsman has found nothing wrong with it. The argument presented by the Press Ombudsman in clearing the Sunday Times is very shallow and lacks proper reasoning. It must be challenged. The problem is that the Press Ombudsman is not independent of the same media houses that he is supposed to investigate and hold to account. The Press Ombudsman is appointed by the very same media houses including the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times pays the salary of the Press Ombudsman. Parliament must urgently look into alternative independent media regulation body because the Press Ombudsman has proven to be a toothless body that is easily influenced by the media houses. We call upon all progressive forces to voice their displeasure at the Press Ombudsman and his controversial rulings. We cannot afford to be silent because the media plays an important role in our society. We cannot allow newspapers like Sunday Times to continue fronting the hidden agendas of the DA and other opposition parties in order to discredit the ruling party (ANC) and our leaders. Parliament must continue to pursue the establishment of an independent body to regulate the media because the self-regulation mechanism is clearly broken. This self-regulation system is a threat to our democracy because people’s reputations are damaged on daily basis without any recourse. We are not suggesting the curtailment of press freedoms. We are advocating for a robust public discourse around this issues because powerful media houses are clearly now abusing the self-regulation system. The media must also be held to account if they have done something wrong. The media must also be subjected to robust criticism if they are behaving unethically like it has been the case with the Sunday Times’ collaboration with the DA against Cde Dina Pule. *Issued by CWU President, Cecil Mokgantsho* *Enquiries:* *Matankana Mothapo, National Spokesperson, 0827590900*** -- -- 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] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
