Johannesburg – Every so often in my numerous engagements with him, late Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu would bemoan how we journalists dislike criticism.
He would frequently wonder how we are so quick to portray those who disapprove of how we sometimes conduct our journalism practice as opponents or enemies of press freedom and even freedom of speech.
This, Mthembu would often argue, was akin to the behaviour of many of his political colleagues and comrades, who resort to employing the use of labels such as “counter-revolutionaries”, “enemies of the state” and sometimes even “agitators” as we have seen, to describe their critics.
I was reminded of some of these discussions this week when activists, men and women representing Women Inspired Solutions for Empowerment – marched to our offices to protest against an article we published last Sunday involving two of the country’s top radio personalities and the woman who has accused them of rape.
The march was profoundly peaceful.
In the memorandum, they noted the “prevalent culture that further burdens and victimises survivors while failing to demand accountability from those charged with perpetrating such violence”.
They told me that they are “appalled that Sunday World is among those who perpetuate a culture through reporting that is abusive to survivors, undermines existing laws and enables impunity enjoyed by accused perpetrators”.
They more specifically based their horror on the article we published last Sunday and authored by journalist Ngwako Malatji, which said the “rape accuser” has apologised to one of the DJs for making false allegations against him.
The article, they argued, contained sensitive and confidential information sourced from a police statement in respect of the case reported against DJs Fresh and Euphonik, which the NPA has refused to prosecute.
Among other things, the protesters charged that the article was published without verifying the authenticity and accuracy of the WhatsApp message that was purportedly sent to Euphonik.
They said Sunday World did not need to speak to the victim to verify its authenticity.
They pointed out that Euphonik removed the tweet and “therefore Sunday World should have retracted the article … By publishing this information, the Sunday World and Malatji failed to exercise care and consideration involving the private lives and concerns of the victim …”
It was their view, they said, that the article went against the journalistic code of ethics.
They also expressed their concerns with the “overall misogynistic tone” and what they described as general disrespect often displayed “against women in newspapers headlines compared to how men are portrayed”.
The protesters demanded a public retraction of the article, the dismissal of Malatji and that a meeting be convened to engage the paper on its approach in reporting on gender-based violence.
It is difficult to deal with all the matters raised as the most of them are current- We will never be arrogant and defensive in the face of genuine concerns under investigation by the Press Ombuds, but it is important to note for the benefit of those who were not there that – under my leadership – Sunday World aligns with the core principles and values of their movement, which I find to be majestic in purpose.
In recent weeks I spoke aloud in our editorial comment after a Free State radio personality, Dimakatso Ratselane, was almost killed in a brutal act of GBV I did not have to go back to how this paper chronicled how “we were distressed, upset, angry and distraught”, as well as how our hearts were wounded and bleeding, especially as we noticed the silence around Ratselane’s brutal attack.
We called out President Cyril Ramaphosa for falling short of dealing with violence against women and children, as we asked for the launch of “an audacious movement of men and women to tackle this scourge in our midst”.
We can never be part of the silence against GBV.
It was not our intention to offend anyone.
That is why I apologised – which I still do again today – for the tone of the article. We could have done better. We have subsequently removed the article from our website. Malatji has volunteered not to be part of future reporting on the saga.
I welcome the request for a meeting to engage on the paper’s approach to reporting on GBV in particular.
This latest controversy happened as we are still busy (since I was appointed editor a month ago) with serious discussions on how we can constantly improve the pages of this paper and eliminate from our content any material that is not consistent with the quality editorial strategy we seek to pursue.
We will never be arrogant and defensive in the face of genuine concerns, which are going to make us a better paper.
Introspection is a virtue and not a weakness. We strive to become a newspaper of excellent journalists who are going to guarantee an excellent publication every Sunday.
I am thankful to our readers and stakeholders who don’t hesitate to call us out if they feel we are going off the rails.
Wally Mbhele is the editor of Sunday World Newspaper.
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