Portions of South Africa’s media are failing in their role as watchdogs, and seem ”extremely reluctant to bark these days”, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter, published on his party’s SA Today website, Leon singled out the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for particular criticism, saying it has ”become a virtual propaganda arm” of the African National Congress.
”Under the direction of news chief Snuki Zikalala, the SABC performs its watchdog role by baring its teeth at the opposition and wagging its tail at the government.”
The official opposition leader did not spare other media groups.
”One of the difficult problems facing South Africa today is that of the watchdogs that fail to bark, the institutions that are meant to warn us of threats to democracy, but which sometimes fail to do so.
”Portions of the media, for example, seem extremely reluctant to bark these days. A recent study by research agency Media Tenor found that the South African government gets better coverage in our media than most governments do in theirs.
”When The Economist published a three-page profile of President Thabo Mbeki, in which it praised his work for Africa but criticised his intolerance of dissent and opposition, few newspapers other than the Beeld and Die Burger gave the article any attention.”
It was only when the ANC responded angrily on Friday last week that most newspapers gave the Economist article any attention at all. Until the ANC counter-attack, apparently, the matter was not considered a legitimate or safe topic for commentary and debate, Leon said.
”When the BBC’s Tim Sebastian subjected me to half an hour of intense grilling last year, I mentioned to him that no South African television journalist today would have the courage to question government officials in so forthright a manner.”
Leon quoted former president Nelson Mandela, who, two months before the 1994 elections, described a critical, independent and investigative press as the ”lifeblood of any democracy”.
Somehow, over the past 10 years, the ANC has strayed from these ideals.
”And newspapers are often afraid to stand up for them [ideals], lest they face the wrath of the president’s office, or the withdrawal of government advertising.
”That is why the SABC is so important. It is, theoretically at least, accountable to the public first and advertisers second.
”Unfortunately, the ANC believes it has the right to determine for itself what is in the public interest, and has destroyed the independence of the SABC.”
South Africa needs a free and independent media now more than ever.
”The scrutiny that journalists bring to bear on elected officials — on both sides of the political divide — helps to ensure we remain accountable to the voters.
”The watchdog’s bark must rouse this nation’s citizens from slumber, and move us to defend the freedoms we fought hard to gain,” Leon said. — Sapa