The US media and its journalists pride themselves on ”independence” and ”professionalism.” Nothing is seen as more important to journalistic integrity than an identity separate from government.
This view has been cemented through the various exposés of government (e.g. Watergate), and in the case of the current administration through the avowed hostility of political figures toward journalists. President Bush has insisted publicly that he neither trusts nor reads the US media. Reporters wear this as a badge of pride. Most US reporters balk at the idea of ever working for the administration.
Well, such was the case until recently. First the news broke that Armstrong Williams, a conservative black talk-show host and newspaper columnist, was paid US$241,000 to promote the Bush administration’s ”No Child Left Behind Act”. For Williams this included having ”softball” interviews with leading Bush officials on TV and radio and doing PR work for the Bush White House on the side. Soon after, it emerged that two other syndicated columnists were also paid to promote Bush administration policies.
Then in late February an accredited White House ”correspondent”, whose questions to President Bush at the daily news briefings were lead to point to inadequacies in Democratic Party policies, was unmasked as a ”reporter” for a ”news site” funded by a Texas Republican activist. A few weeks later the New York Times reported that 20 federal agencies had spent US$254-million during Bush’s first term creating bogus news clips for a range of television outlets.
Of course, while it is no secret that a number of leading journalists have an ideological slant, a veneer of ”objectivity” is still more or less de rigueur. And the revolving door between business and politics generally bypasses media figures. When big-time journalists retire, they become university professors or give generously compensated speeches to civic groups. They rarely get the more lucrative and powerful spots as lobbyists, party hacks, or public officials.
So the revelations of the last few months are greeted with discomfort by those charged with overseeing the state of the profession.
In South Africa, journalists and media activists have been quick to oppose the government’s (now shelved) attempt to have free time on SABC. Similarly, the reaction has been shrill to the ANC’s Joel Netshitenzhe mooting that the party may want to enter the newspaper business. It is worth noting the upfront nature of these intentions.
Switching jobs between journalism and the subjects of their reporting, though, is an old practice in South Africa. There was even a time when the link between journalists and their owners’ interests – mining capital for the English press, and Afrikaner political power for the Afrikaans press – was clear-cut.
But since the early 1990s, South African journalists have worked to preserve some semblance of independence. In the process, they have tried to develop, if not a homogenous identity, a profession that shuns public relations and outright propaganda.
If some have jumped between journalism and (more lucrative) posts as PR for government ministers or corporations, they insist that this has little impact on their jobs. Apart from the usual subjects who come in for stick – like Snuki Zikalala, who made a name for himself as a labour-friendly TV journalist in the mid-1990s, then went to work for the Department of Labour and then to head SABC news – a number of journalists have been given a free pass to do government or corporate PR and then return ”objectively” to journalism. Take Pippa Green, who heads SABC radio news, and a few years ago advised the Department of Finance on its PR. Or Donwald Pressley, a parliamentary reporter for I-Net, who served as press spokesperson for the short-lived DA administration in the Western Cape. Any survey of reporters at the mainstream press, SABC, e.tv or talk radio will point to more examples.
It is surprising, given the insistence on a separate identity, that these issues aren’t on the agenda of South African media.
Sean Jacobs is The Media’s correspondent in New York.