Upholding professional standards was one of the key challenges facing South African media practitioners, said newspaper editor Cyril Madlala at a seminar in Durban at the weekend.
Speaking at the South African National editors Forum’s (Sanef) 10-year media review, Madlala said 2003 was particularly challenging for the industry as journalists hogged the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
”One of the challenges for us as media practitioners is, therefore, to address as a matter of urgency the question of upholding our professional standards if we are to remain credible as sources of information,” he said.
There have been too many instances of regrettable lapses in the last 10 years and ”we in the media should find appropriate responses”, said Madlala.
Advocate Kessie Naidu, who exposed the journalists in the recent Hefer Commission, ”the challenge for journalists was to ask and endeavour to find the answer to the question why when fed by a source with information, the disclosure of which could seriously damage or destroy the reputation of an individual.
”The other challenge no doubt facing you is that concerning the claim to protect the sources of information on the one hand and your duty to provide information to and to participate in proceedings of the courts and commissions, on the other,” he said.
Tracking gender in the mainstream media in 10 years of democracy, Asha Moodley — member of the editorial advisory board of Agenda magazine –said in the main, ”the earth had not really moved for women” in relation to the media.
”At the most, there has been a slight shuffle,” she said.
She said there had been an increase in the presence of women holding particular positions in the industry, but generally the method of news gathering had not radically changed.
”The industry in general has to commit to gender transformation and the resultant new values that should underlie the news,” said Moodley.
Sanef chairperson and newspaper deputy editor Henry Jeffreys concluded the seminar by saying there was no doubt that more black journalists and women had arrived in the last 10 years.
”Now we have arrived, what are we going to do about the high expectations of us as leaders of the media,” he asked.
Jeffreys stressed that these expectations were not going to go away and journalists needed to find ways to satisfy them. – Sapa