Some of my colleagues have thought me rather odd because I do not buy into absolute right to freedom of expression.
Apparently there is some code that requires that those who make a living by making views and events known in the media should believe they occupy a special place in the hierarchy of rights.
Besides the jurisprudential principle that there is no hierarchy of rights — and that all rights must be balanced against one another in an open and democratic society based on human dignity — everyday life suggests we cannot afford to believe the media are entitled to ignore the right to dignity.
I know of too many people who have died because they did not accept that it was correct to treat other human beings as though they had no right to dignity. I don’t know too many who gave up their lives so that people could write things in newspapers.
That said, it would be a sad day if the media had to account to some special committee that, in turn, accounts to Parliament. We in the media must acknowledge how we arm those who target press freedom, merely by thinking we are above the rules that govern everyone else.
The behaviour of charlatans, such as those JoziFM Cheaters Uyajola presenters, who barged into my sister-in-law’s house claiming she was having an affair with a married man, does nothing to foster faith in the media as an institution that respects the dignity of others.
Cheaters Uyajola is a programme on the Soweto community radio station that purports to unmask unfaithful lovers and shame them into changing their behaviour. It is loosely based on an American TV show where private investigators follow suspected cheats to uncover evidence of their liaisons.
But our local version, despite its pretensions (its slogan is ”we strive to build healthy relationships”), seems inspired by the cheap thrill it gets from unmitigated voyeurism.
The presenter merrily walked into a house full of children, with hundreds following him into the yard, and demanded to speak to the ”errant” woman the show’s investigators said lived there. There was no effort to corroborate the informant’s diatribe about who was fooling around with whom. For JoziFM and its merry band of ”investigators”, it is open season and everyone is fair game for public humiliation. The small matter of truth and public interest is an inconvenience from which developing media such as JoziFM should be exempt.
In his defence, the presenter glibly said it was enough that they had security guards and he had never asked the mob to join him in his search for the alleged Jezebel. He was not bothered about how children in the house would be affected by the sounds of a mob on their doorstep, calling for their mother and aunt.
He was probably taking his chances that these are not communities that are aware of the radio station’s need to abide by the Broadcast Complaints Commission of South Africa, let alone the defamation and libel laws that should kick in with their callous destruction of a good woman’s reputation.
She alone must account to her neighbours and friends who ask her all sorts of awkward questions. One can only wonder how her children relate to the cruel jibes kids have been known to make after hearing adults talk.
But the show will go on. JoziFM will host another show and its rankings for its most popular programme will soar.
So, do not expect my sister-in-law to join the festivities on October 19 when we in the media celebrate how far we have come from the days when the press was the people’s champion against injustice. Do not expect her to think that this talk about diversifying the media and vesting it in the hands of community-based organisations holds anything positive for those without access to ways of punishing blatant exploitation of the voiceless.
If community media, which are supposedly for the development of locals, can trample on rights with such indifference, imagine the lengths commercial media, with their pressures to turn a profit for the owners, will go to increase ratings and readerships.
If you think that I am pissed off because this time it was someone I know, love and respect, and because my children were exposed to a marauding mob, you are partly right. I am angry also because I love journalism and those who treat it as a one-night stand are the same type of megalomaniacs who would do anything to make us account to state institutions.