Fienie Grobler, the new editor of The Media magazine, speaks to the Mail & Guardian Online about media reporting on the Jacob Zuma trial, plagiarism and the viability of print as online media grow.
Grobler, an established journalist with extensive experience in news media (including Agence France-Presse and the South African Press Association) and a background in radio, joined the magazine on May 2 and took over the reins from former editor Kevin Bloom.
1. The media have been accused of pre-judging Jacob Zuma during his rape trial. Do you agree?
I don’t think one can generalise the media. The media have several different newspapers, radio stations, TV channels — you can’t make one generalisation and say the media did that. You have to go and look at each individual publication and broadcaster, and then you can say what you think on those individual entities. But I don’t think you can make a generalisation on the media did this and the media did that.
What did you think of the media coverage during the trial?
Well, I think it was quite fair.
2. Plagiarism is a big issue. The internet has made it easier. What are your thoughts?
It seems like plagiarism is the new thing to write about. I’ve seen the latest reports on William Gumede and I’ve been following Antjie Krog’s saga, and I have to say that I am a big fan of both those writers. And I find it hard to believe that such good writers would need to steal copy from someone else. So, I am a bit skeptical about those reports, but I haven’t really been able to compare their publications with the alleged plagiarised copy. I can’t really speak with such an authoritative voice, but I am skeptical about those reports.
Do you think that plagiarism is a big issue in the media today?
Yes, I think so. It happens, and it happens in places that the public don’t know about. It happens quite often with news agencies and newspapers. Newspapers create quite a lot from news agencies without crediting them and the same happens with radio and the news agencies. I’m talking about Sapa [the South African Press Association] and the international news agencies. And the public never get to hear about that.
So, it really is out there but everyone’s just kind of ignoring it because news is so fleeting. You do one story and the next day it’s all forgotten, there’s a new story. It is an issue, yes, but I suppose you get that everywhere in the world.
3. South Africa’s online media are growing steadily. Does this threaten the viability of print newspapers?
No, I don’t think so. If you look at South African newspapers, the readerships haven’t really been growing but they have been stabilising. And we’ve had a few very successful newcomers such as the Daily Sun.
But newspapers are still alive and well. People said 10 years ago that newspapers were going to be dead within a few years’ time. And it never happened. Newspapers are using online as an added value, but that does not mean they will disappear. People still enjoy feeling the paper and sitting down for a cup of coffee and reading the news as a break from sitting in front of the computer. So, I don’t think online is going to kill newspapers.
Newspapers — it’s a classic thing. It will never go away. I don’t think so.
4. What plans do you have for the magazine?
You know, it’s not really me, it’s a whole team. We just did some research where we interviewed quite a few respondents to get their views on what they like and don’t like about the magazine. And most of them said they wanted more investigative pieces. And they thought the copy was sometimes a bit too academic.
Based on that research we’ve decided to try to cater for what the respondents said they wanted, which was in-depth articles, more contention, less dense and academic copy. Something that’s more accessible, but keeping it informative and in-depth.
And [The Media], it’s a good product. We are just building on the product.
5. Are the South African media too negative?
[Laughs] That’s news, isn’t it? I mean, crime makes the headlines, but it’s just how it works. I think all media tend to be more negative than positive because people like reading negative stuff. But I wouldn’t say that we are overly negative. No, not at all!
I think there’s a silver lining in all our publications in South African newspapers and magazines. There’s a general optimism about South Africa’s future in many publications and you can read that between the lines. And you can read that in editorials. People are criticising the government or whoever in their editorials, but it’s because they care about what’s happening in this country.
So, I don’t think you could just make a sweeping statement saying the media in South Africa are too negative. It’s not accurate.
6. What are the biggest threats to press freedom in Southern Africa, and how do these affect the South African media?
I think the South African media are relatively safe because our government, or our Constitution, provides for a free media and freedom of expression. We all know what’s happening in Zimbabwe, that it’s exactly the opposite there. While in other countries … if you look at Botswana and Namibia and Mozambique, there are not that many publications. Most of them rely on the state broadcasters.
I think that South African media may be moving into those regions in trying to open up new, independent media institutions and they will probably be successful in that. I do not think that governments of those countries — that’s excluding Zimbabwe — will really put a halt to that because it will mean investment to them.
7. What is your opinion of the state of Africa’s media?
You’ll have to look at certain countries. If you look at South Africa and Africa, we are very fortunate to have a free media, while the same cannot be said about of some of our neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe.
But then you can’t really take Zimbabwe and make a generalisation and say this is what the whole of Africa looks like. Each country has its own system. I can’t really speak with authority out of Southern Africa. I can speak about Southern Africa, but out of that I’m not that clued up about what’s happening there.
You hear scary stories, but I’ve never been to East Africa or West Africa, so I wouldn’t like to give an opinion on that without being there and seeing what the state of the media is in there.
8. What sort of things do you read?
What do I read? A lot of things [laughs]. I’m busy reading a book called The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life [by Ryszard Kapuscinski]. I like reading fiction to get away from hard news. But then I also read my newspapers and my magazines every day, which I have to do for my job but which I enjoy anyway. That’s why I’m in this job.
9. Online journalism in South Africa is heavily wire-dependent. What is the way forward for original and independent online reporting?
I think they should just do what newspapers do and get their reporters to do their own stories, instead of just cutting and pasting news-agency copy. Maybe they can use the news agencies and wire agencies for international stuff, obviously. But I think they could try to do local copy more than they are. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go out. You can pick up the phone and ask someone a couple of questions in a telephonic interview.
10. How should the Icasa Bill, recently sent back by President Thabo Mbeki, be improved?
I have to have a look at the Bill before I say anything on that because all I know about it is that it has been sent back. I don’t know the details on that. I can try to look at it and you can phone me at a later stage and ask me, but for now I’ll just say something stupid because I wouldn’t know what I’m talking about.
Grobler answered in an e-mail shortly after the interview:
The main concern is the constitutional independence of the telecommunications regulator. The Bill should remove the power of selecting Icasa councillors from Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and place it in the hands of Parliament. It should also make the Icasa chairman accountable to Parliament rather than the minister.