/ 1 June 2001

Black journalists are not a homogeneous group

Jubie Matlou

CROSSFIRE

Iwas taken aback by the recent comments by Sandile Memela in his Mind Blast column in City Press. In one column Memela attacks black journalists who have

become ”house niggers” (my interpretation) in white media institutions. In another he attacks black journalists who have left the township for the leafy

suburbs.

Memela’s comments are insulting, myopic and patronising. His sweeping generalisations are flawed and shunned in an age in which our understanding of contemporary society focuses on diversity among people or groups. Black journalists are not a homogeneous group.

To assume that eurocentric values are all-powerful in newsrooms across the country may hold some water, given our historical background. But Memela must

acknowledge the rise of several black journalists in the hierarchies of various

newsrooms journalists who bring their backgrounds to bear on the processes of

news selection and encoding. I think here of Moegsien Williams at the Cape Argus, Barney Mthombothi, who currently heads SABC News, Lizeka Mda and Ferial

Hafferjee, to name a few.

The diversity we now find in newsrooms was unthinkable in the Seventies and Eighties. But the emergence of the alternative press in the Eighties, and the

role they played in grooming aspiring black journalists and entrusting them with

decision-making powers, should not be ignored. Titles such as South, Grassroots,

the Weekly Mail and New Nation come to mind.

The latest trend is the acquisition of stakes in the mass media by blacks, via

the likes of Nail and Johnnic. It’s only a matter of time before the concept of

a ”white” media becomes redundant, as race, class and gender intersect in newsrooms and media management across the country.

Memela switches discourse whenever it suits him. In one column he speaks about

the need for an outspoken and critical culture among blacks. But it is difficult

to under- stand how he reconciles this with his generalisations about black journalists in white-dominated newsrooms.

Conspiracy theories about news selection and encoding are themselves now becoming suspect, as the new generation of journalists begin to assert themselves as both reporters and sub-editors in how stories are approached and

treated. It is no longer acceptable to argue that ownership of media institutions is the sole factor in explaining the agenda-setting function of the

media.

Many black journalists are waging different, even divergent, battles in predominantly white newsrooms. Memela expects black journalists to behave the

same way all the time. Who said the individual interests of these journalists

ought to coincide as a requirement of their true loyalty to the black cause?

Successful revolutions the world over have been waged by men and women with different perspectives. How then does Memela explain the alleged competition

between Ivan Fallon and Mathata Tsedu at 47 Sauer Street? The latter is jumping

ship to join the SABC.

It’s also silly for Memela to expect adults to continue living in the townships.

Townships are not ideal places to live, but Memela glorifies poverty in a way

that suggests immersion in it is his sole criterion of what constitutes a genuine contribution to the black cause. Who said role-modelling can only take

place in the township?

One cannot speak about black journalists and the challenges they face without

touching on related subjects such as government-media relations. Take the SABC

for example. I single out its coverage of the alleged plot against President

Thabo Mbeki, in particular the appearance of Minister of Safety and Security

Steve Tshwete before the portfolio committee in Parliament. SABC TV news showed

Tshwete leaving a hearing of the committee ”unceremoniously”, whereas e.tv news

left this out in its coverage of the same event. This, to my mind, illustrates a degree of independence on the part of SABC news.

Media coverage of the plot and the media criticism that followed showed that

there is a blurring of political and ideological borders. Many black and white

journalists who were active in the days of the struggle now occupy senior positions in mainstream media and to lump them with rightwing media agendas is

unfair. It is also inconceivable that all the divergent tendencies in our media

institutions can or will converge around a single objective, such as undermining

a democratically elected government.

If such an objective exists, it is pursued from different perspectives and for

different purposes. If this diversity was understood by those who inhabit the

corridors of power, government communicators would have handled the supposed

plot against Mbeki differently, causing little or no damage to the president.

They must bear part of the blame for the perception that the country’s highest

office is under a kind of public relations siege.

In 22 short months Mbeki has moved from his much celebrated accession to the

presidency to his current image crisis. Something is wrong somewhere. Blaming it on the media, though, is not much use.

For a start, the government and the ruling party must leave rhetoric and sloganeering to party political rallies. They need to employ a soft-spoken approach on radio and television. Press statements from the African National

Congress should be short, terse and to the point.

As for those like Memela, their belief that all black journalists in white-owned

media institutions are the same and play the same role is outdated. Centuries-

old expressions echo down time to our post-modernist age. In Sepedi: batho ba ka se lekane, e se meno. People are not the same nor equal; even teeth come in different shapes and sizes.