Media freedom as important now as it has ever been

On the 30th anniversary celebration of World Press Freedom Day declared by the UN , the surveillance of journalists and harassment of reporters by the state, individual politicians and political party supporters have been raised as the main concern in democratic South Africa.

The industry itself has called for the protection of journalists against criminals, cyber-bullying and political party supporters. This is against the backdrop of what was acknowledged by all as commendable achievements for a free press since the end of apartheid.

The day came about when African journalists gathered in Windhoek, Namibia, on 3 May 1991 to initiate and adopt the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom. The document they agreed on and which prompted the UNto declare Word Press Freedom Day, spoke of an independent press, free from economic and political control, an end to monopolies of any kind and encouraged the proliferation of voices reflecting the widest possible range of opinion in communities.

Caxton professor of journalism at Wits University, Anton Harber said the progress made in media freedom in South Africa could not be compared with the situation in the apartheid era.

“The media are now able to expose wrongdoing and corruption with little fear of prison, banning or prosecution. We can celebrate the fact that we have a rambunctious and rowdy democracy. However, there are some serious threats to our freedom that we should note on this International Media Freedom Day,” he said.

Harber highlighted the “illegal surveillance of journalists that had become rife and an impediment to their ability to do their work”.

“Online harassment, particularly of women journalists, is a serious and growing problem. There are threats to introduce internet controls that would compromise our freedom of information and speech. And some of our politicians are abusive and intolerant towards the media to such an extent that we wonder if they want to reintroduce apartheid controls. These are all worrying signs that we have to be vigilant in defending our media freedom,” Harber said.

In remembrance of World Press Freedom Day, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) called on governments in Africa and the world over to protect and defend media freedom.

“In 2021 journalists are facing increased attacks, including imprisonment, torture and murder. In South Africa journalists are attacked by criminals, harassed by cyberbullies online, receive death threats and – women journalists especially – are often targeted by party political supporters.

The theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day: “Information as a Public Good”, underlines the indisputable importance of verified and reliable information.

On the commemoration of the day and the theme, Sanef quoted Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay saying: It shines a light on the “essential role of free and professional journalists in producing and disseminating this information by tackling misinformation and other harmful content”.

The body, whose membership comprises editors, senior journalists and journalism trainers said in South Africa, media freedom is enshrined and protected in the Constitution.

“It is the right of every citizen to protect media freedom and freedom of expression. If media freedom is threatened, our democracy suffers. Sanef believes journalists have played a significant role for the public good especially under the Covid-19 pandemic. We will continue to campaign for media that is ethical and truthful at our upcoming ethics conference later this month.”

Senior journalist, columnist and founding chairperson of the Forum of Black Journalists Oupa Ngwenya said considering this year’s theme of “Information as a Public Good” there was no business for journalists to subject their profession to the whims of any particular interests in society.

“For true journalists, May 3 is an open invitation to look into the mirror to assess if they have not dropped the bar to conduct themselves in a manner affirmative to public good,” Ngwenya said.

He said this day was celebrated to highlight perceived and actual threats to journalistic practice, the necessary state of independence, continued focus on ethics and to hail journalists who have given their lives in pursuit of truth.

“This makes journalism a life and death undertaking against a myriad of hidden and open interests in society that wish the spotlight of truth shone on them to be eclipsed from public attention,” Ngwenya said.

The day comes at a time when some anti-press freedom elements have begun to rear their ugly head in the country. Despite the commendable progress achieved since 1994, some politicians and supporters have shown contempt for journalists

EFF leader Julius Malema has often made intimidatory remarks targeting senior journalists including investigative reporter Pauli van Wyk. Among others, Van Wyk exposed the EFF senior members’ involvement in the VBS Bank saga. The EFF leader has frequently labelled some journalists as politicians disguised as reporters.

Malema, as then president of the ANC Youth League in 2010, publicly insulted BBC journalist Jonah Fisher, calling him a “bloody agent” with “white tendency”, a “bastard” and a “small boy” during a media briefing.

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu assaulted Netwerk24 photojournalist Adriaan de Kock as the journalist approached him outside Parliament. The incident was taken up by Parliament and De Kock pressed charges against Shivambu.

Taking a leaf from their top leadership, in September last year EFF members harassed ENCA reporter Nobesuthu Hejana during the Clicks protests in Cape Town, preventing her from covering the event. Journalists from other media houses decided to boycott and stop covering the event in solidarity with Hejana.

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte was also caught on the wrong side of media freedom. Duarte in April 2019 verbally attacked former ENCA political reporter Samkele Maseko after he asked tough questions during a media briefing. Duarte said Maseko portrayed himself as “lord of the media”, he was a “bully” and “arrogantly disposed”.

“And you want to defend freedom of speech [which] you never fought for,” she said.

Maseko, who has since joined the SABC, is known for posing tough questions to all politicians, regardless of their political affiliation.

ericn@citizen.co.za