Winnie Madikizela Mandela reportedly accused our icon of being a sell-out. This, the man many of us, here and abroad, believe to be a modern day saint, the greatest champion of human rights, reconciliation and forgiveness that the world has seen in modern times.
Julius Malema has personified everything many of us fear about African leadership, caught red-handed he plays all the “whites don’t belong here” cards he can. Now he is being taken to court by his longtime white foes and being accused of “hate speech”.
Jub Jub (Molemo Maarohanye) and his mate kill school children on their way home from school and now the public are baying for them to be charged with murder.
Four cyclists are killed training for the Argus.
A group of paramedics are attacked, one of them raped, while providing an essential service and reports are released of South Africa's driver community that suffers the highest number of deaths per road user in the world (Economist).
Our president “forgets” to disclose his business interests within 60 days of his appointment.
The Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are fighting over local companies versus foreign rivals getting preferential treatment in state procurement with the Treasury accusing the DTI of being unconstitutional.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Katin criticises the competitive nature of our economy pointing to the banking, telecoms and food sectors.
The Public Services Commission has found massive evidence of fraud and corruption in the awarding of tenders. Phew!
And all this in just one week!
Isn’t the life of a journalist made so easy? Just arrive at the next Malema gathering and you have more than enough ammo to fill your columns for a week. Surf the British media and you’ll get more than enough second-hand Afro-pessimism about 2010, Mandela, Zuma, Malema and whatever else you think is “news”.
Revelling in bad times seems to be so comfortable for many of our journalists; they can’t seem to get enough of it.
But as Barney Mthombothi reminds us in his Financial Mail Editor’s Note (March 5, 2010) “If you want to be taken seriously, you need to speak out in both good and bad times”.
I agree, and as the South African National Editors Forum Press Code states, “The Press shall be obliged to report news truthfully, accurately and fairly. News shall be presented in context and in a balanced manner without any intentional or negligent departure from the facts”.
So while all this bad news is going down – is there anything out there to celebrate?
Well, the Financial Mail of March 5th in an editorial “Further signs of better times” reminds us that “some repetition is needed before people are prepared to believe that things really are improving”.
How true is that!
“Looking at the big picture” the FM reminds us, “real GDP growth came in far stronger than expected in the final quarter of last year, at 3.2% the overall Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) improved, rising to 60.4% from 53.6% in January – the highest in three years. New passenger car sales rose by 21.4% year on year. House prices are rising, exports have improved and the inflation outlook has brightened. Add World Cup fever to all this good news and South Africa’s prospects certainly appear to have brightened!” says the editorial.
Lest you may think that “business is okay, it’s the politicians that are screwing up”. Business Day (Thursday 11th March 2010) reminds us that “Manuel, who is responsible for national planning was appointed to a high-level advisory group on climate change finance, an international body set up by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. This follows the nomination of Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk as South Africa’s candidate for the top UN climate job, and further boosts South Africa’s international profile”.
It has been a week of good and bad news.
The good news is significant, profound, and far-reaching. The bad news, excluding stories of personal tragedy, is largely “today’s scoop, and tomorrow’s fish and chips wrapper”.
I continue to remain baffled as to why the media gives Julius Malema such prominence. A lot of what he says is hardly “news”, and the fact that he said it is not “news” either. Just lazy, sensationalist reporting. I doubt very much whether these and Winnie’s utterances reflect our current “context” and the “balance” that is shaping our society.
The above is written in the context of a book recommended by Anton Harber, Professor of Journalism at Wits, by Nick Davies: “Flat Earth News”. It is a must read, and a fascinating commentary on the state of journalism in the world. As Davies says, “The more I look, the more I found falsehood, distortion and propaganda running through the outlets of an industry which is supposed to be dedicated to the very opposite, i.e. to telling the truth”.
We have one of the freest media environments globally, we have some great editors, and we have an honourable Press Code. It is a real challenge to keep the truth of our country in perspective.
Hopefully, our journalists will not lament as Nick Davies did, “Finally, I was forced to admit that I worked in a corrupted profession”.
If that happens, then who will keep who honest, and who will tell the truth?
Steuart Pennington
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