There is something a little distasteful about the Independent Group’s “confession” to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as to its sins during the apartheid era.
Like its much-trumpeted “international advisory board” of consultants, the submission smacks more of a public relations exercise than a genuine contribution to South African journalism. The group’s apparent failure to consult some its key editors — serving and retired — before submitting an apology on their behalf is both improper and symptomatic of the managerial ethos which was in large part responsible for the feeble performance of the Argus stable in fighting apartheid.
There is, without question, a need for critical examination of the performance of South African media during the apartheid era, including the “liberal” press. The appalling treatment of black journalists should be central to such a critique.
And it is to be expected — demanded, if necessary — of the major newspaper groups which profited hugely from the apartheid years that they facilitate and fund such an exercise. But it is an exercise which does not fall within the purview of Desmond Tutu’s overworked commission.
The truth commission was set up to investigate gross human rights abuses and the factors which gave rise to them. By troubling the commission with its comparatively petty squabbles, the press is in danger of belittling the terrible pain suffered by the victims of those atrocities, their families and their friends.
If there is a role for the truth commission where the newspaper industry is concerned, it is in the limited but nonetheless important task of uncovering details of covert state operations against the press. In particular, we would urge the commission to help identify government agents who infiltrated the country’s independent newspapers.
We sympathise entirely with Thabo Mbeki’s view that informers should be forced into the open. It is unacceptable that the reputations of such people, who profited from a betrayal of trust, should be protected in the new South Africa.