It’s Monday morning and press ombudsman Joe Thloloe is trawling through his emails over a cup of tea. His inbox contains three complaints about cartoonist Zapiro’s depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in a sketch for the Star.
We make small talk over a recent Sunday Times front-page picture of a woman in her underwear being brought to safety in floods in Plettenberg Bay when the phone rings.
He listens attentively, then spends the next few minutes telling the caller how to submit a complaint.
“That was about the flood picture you were talking about,” he says at the end of the call.
That’s how easy it is to complain about a story in the print media.
Fiery debates have been raging recently over what is in the public interest after a series of articles on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
African National Congress-aligned business people are reportedly interested in purchasing publisher Avusa, home of the Sunday Times and other major publications, and the ANC plans to discuss setting up a media tribunal when it meets in Polokwane — sparking concern about threats to media freedom.
Amid this tumult, Thloloe took the podium during a spirited debate at a joint South African National Editors’ Forum and South African Broadcasting Corporation conference in October and said, quite dryly, that if anyone had a problem with anything in the media, they had to simply pick up the phone and contact him.
“The system we use is cheap, you must just have enough airtime. If I say, ‘Give it to me in writing,’ and you say, ‘I can’t write,’ I will sit with you and help you [document the complaint]. It’s cheap and it doesn’t require a platoon of lawyers.”
Not everybody is aware of this service, which relies on self-regulation of the media and is seen as a viable alternative to repressive statutory regulation, so the ombudsman and the South African Press Council recently embarked on a publicity drive.
Anything considered offensive or incorrect can be taken up with the press ombudsman — preferably within 10 working days of the date of publication of article in question — by calling Tel: 011 788 4829, faxing 011 788 4990 or by emailing [email protected].
A clear complaints process is set out. Once a complaint is received, it is judged according to the South African Press Code, to which about 640 publications in South Africa voluntarily subscribe. A further 600 or so do not, but if such a publication is involved, it is asked if it can be adjudicated according to the code.
A booklet containing the press code is currently being distributed to newsrooms across the country for insertion into style guides. The code, which has been accepted by the council, guides the ombudsman and the South African Press Appeals Panel to reach decisions on complaints.
If a complaint is not resolved, it is escalated to an appeals panel, which has six public and six press representatives, overseen by retired judge Ralph Zulman.
The ombudsman has to been as neutral and impartial, so he does not lobby on any issues of media freedom, leaving that to the council — headed by veteran journalist Raymond Louw and also supported by six public and six press representatives.
According to the code, the press is obliged to report news truthfully, accurately, fairly, in context and in a balanced manner, without distortion, exaggeration, misrepresentation or omissions.
If a report is founded on opinion, allegation, rumour or supposition, this must be made clear. Facts should be right and comment must be sought in critical reports, unless this process will threaten publication, or lead to evidence being destroyed or witnesses intimidated.
“A publication should make amends for publishing information or comment that is found to be inaccurate by printing, promptly and with appropriate prominence, a retraction, correction or explanation,” the code stipulates.
Child pornography should not be published and due care should be taken with reports depicting violence. Rape victims and victims of sexual violence must not be identified without their permission.
News obtained by dishonest means should not be published, unless there is a legitimate public interest.
The press must be careful and considerate in matters involving the private lives of individuals, but privacy may be overridden by a legitimate public interest.
The press should avoid discriminatory or derogatory references to people’s race, colour, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or preference, physical or mental disability or illness, or age, unless this is strictly relevant, or adds significantly to the reader’s understanding.
No payment for articles is allowed to criminals or people engaged in crime or “notorious behaviour”, unless there is a public interest.
“Our yardstick is the code … Has there been a breach of the code?” says Thloloe.
If Thloloe finds against a publication, the publication is asked to retract, apologise and give the other party a chance to put its views across — and his findings are used as a reference for the publication.
There are no fines, to prevent publications turning their backs on the code to avoid payment, and there are no lawyers involved.
This could be considered a slap on the wrist, but, says Thloloe, “The stock in trade of journalism is credibility. If your credibility is eroded as a result of a complaint made against you, people stop buying your paper. The public out there might not regard it as a huge punishment, but it is.”
One reporter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of a correction notice for a story she had written: “I felt absolutely terrible. I don’t think I have ever been so humiliated in my entire life. My editor blamed my later meticulousness on that incident.”
She continued: “Journalism is very unforgiving. It demands absolute perfection, but mistakes are made.”
Thloloe has racked up 47 years’ experience in journalism, which ranges from writing sleeve notes for jazz albums to senior positions in most of South Africa’s leading news media organisations.
The most common complaint he receives is about accuracy, which he finds unacceptable in today’s technological environment that makes information available at the click of a mouse to help reporters with accuracy checks.
He has also found that journalists are not reading widely enough, leading to them not picking up corrections, and then reusing incorrect information.
“These are the issues that I am grappling with,” says Thloloe. — Sapa
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