Media Flaws

It was last year when I sat in a Randburg conference centre, staring nauseatingly at the speaker - a renowned journalist who stood there gloating about the close-up stories of crime, gruesome pictures he’d managed to capture in his heyday and how wonderful blood was on print. In his PowerPoint presentation there were incidents where people were committing violent crimes, but no, instead of calling the police he’d snap away, take notes and yes – even interview the criminals for his story.

Let’s face it. We don’t know fuckall about journalism in this country nor worldwide and I’m not claiming to know any better too. Times have changed from when news was about your stolen cow or shot president. To a certain degree there has to be some form of social responsibility attached to journalism nowadays. Journalism is not an island. Schools of journalism continue to groom inhumane flies that will sit on walls regardless of what is being dished in that kitchen. And then you wonder why a few years later after sitting on these walls of gruesome chefs these flies turn to drugs and off themselves later. Some scribes who covered the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a few years ago in this country are said to be in the pits of their mental capacities, with some on steady streams of alcohol and drugs on a daily basis. But I’m not writing about them here.

Instead I’d like to turn my attention to eTV. Let’s be clear: I do not like eTV. Good. My bias is now out of the way.

Their newslants, their reportage and overall tones have never settled well with me. There always lies a pessimistic undertone to anything black or black governed. But let me throw the race card out this pack immediately, and focus on the proverbial final nail in the coffin they’ve assisted in buying for one of their sources – Lucky Phungula.

Last week eTV showed a duo loading guns, threatening to rob tourists and generally sabotaging the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Let me repeat this – last week eTV aired two men who were outlining their criminal mission statement for the upcoming soccer World Cup.

Pause.
Think.
Think harder.
Yes.

You’re right. This belongs in the Looney bin or sensationalist corner. Because tell me, like you would to a child, what the objectives of airing this nationally and worldwide are? What does one seek to gain by airing threats? Moral panic? What would you be thinking when you aired such? And then refuse to reveal sources or use your source’s information anonymously to lead to an arrest; not a broadcast.

The only reason we keep sources under wraps is to protect them from harm or for exclusivity. If your source gives you a tip off – you don’t run and interview the criminals you were tipped about and air it on TV, unless you’re that hungry to sensationalise and are just generally morally bankrupt.

Why did eTV decide to go interview these so-called criminals, instead of just getting them arrested and not even having to mention there was a source that tipped them off? Why did they publicise their source? Why not just act on what they had? I’ll tell you why:

Because eTV is first a business before it is a media house. The bottom line of a private broadcaster is to make money, sell, be publicised, attract advertisers and so on.

So the source has off’ed himself. Wonder how Mpho Lakaje – the eTV reporter that broke this story – feels? Ecstatic? Bewildered with illusions of infinite fame?

‘Prey’ do tell Mpho how did you get this story? Did it come to you? In which case alarm bells should have rung.

‘Prey’ do tell me Mpho and eTV; when at home and your neighbours are being burgled and shots are being fired do you wake up and call your news crew or the police? I’m inclined to think you’d call the former.

To cut a long story short.

eTV is now being subpoenaed under Section 205 to hand over all material pertaining to the source as well as Soccer World Cup criminal interviewees. eTV together with the South African National Editors Forum is deploring this move. Yet they fail to see that it is not the police who are wrong, but rather the manner in which the story was conducted that leaves a sour taste. Those very same hypocrites at SANEF and eTV stand day in and day out advocating against crime – screaming “Nyme nis nyanyi-cceptable! [Crime is Unacceptable!]”, but when they aid and harbour criminals they crouch behind journalistic independence and credibility to sources. So now you have to be credible to criminals?

What happened here was total greed.