Here is some counsel to the African National Congress about starting a newspaper — unsolicited, but without charge. Friends, don’t do it.
We are at one about media diversity — adding to the pool of choice among newspaper readers. And let’s agree with some of your concerns about existing newspapers.
But starting an ANC paper is an ill-fated way to expose people to your perspectives on framing the news.
Simply, that people vote for you doesn’t mean they will buy your paper.
The struggle organ New Nation died for want of readers; the papers that thrive today are the tabloids. I’m sure you in the ANC don’t want to traffic in tales about tokoloshes.
Notwithstanding this advice, I expect Luthuli House will proceed anyway. So here are five tips on making the best of a bad decision:
1. Get a clear policy for openness
Let no one pretend there is a monolithic ANC. By clinging to an imaginary unity, this newspaper will turn out to be bland — at best. More likely, it will be a fiction in a fantasy land that convinces only the most dogmatic of dreamers.
Right from the start, therefore, the paper will need a policy that welcomes opposing perspectives. Without this, it will simply become the organ of a single tendency. Readers will feel lied to if they are fed a supposedly single “line” on stories like Zimbabwe, or on the chaos in the ANC Youth League, or on whatever else arises. People want to know about contestation within the ANC.
2. Guarantee editorial independence
No media institution can operate with continuous outside interference. The temptation is that a newspaper founded by a political party either gets directives from above or goes in search of them. There are just too many unfolding news issues for this to be viable.
If the editor does not have the full right to interpret editorial policy, and be decisive in these terms, the result will be paralysis. The paper will collapse under micromanagement by outsiders — or forever lag behind by trying to second-guess the president.
3. Plan ahead for disputes
Suppose the ANC newspaper actually did become a robust reflector of debates, perhaps even an agenda setter in regard to the political party itself (for example, on promoting transparency in political funding).
If so, there would be regular controversy between owners (or some of them) and the editor. And between the editor and journalists. If tensions are to be handled without ANC Youth League-style brawling, then mechanisms for conflict resolution need to be pre-specified.
4. Provide for interactivity
No new medium today will prosper if it does not enable audience feedback, whether by phone-in, SMS or website. Furthermore, while people enjoy a platform to deliver their comments, what they really want is ongoing conversation.
The ANC may therefore think it is getting into the information business, in the sense of a one-way communication. But a different public mindset exists, and the party would be wise to ensure, upfront, that capacity for dialogue with readers will be adequately addressed.
5. Fix the financing of the venture
If the party wishes to avoid scandals like the Mvume-PetroSA funding conduit, or court cases in regard to unfair competition with other newspapers, then it needs at the outset to declare its business model. This means an explicit commitment not to abuse the ruling party’s state power to channel public funds into advertising for politically partisan reasons.
Most of all, the business plan for the paper should set firm targets for sales and revenue, and the ANC should commit to being bold enough to call it a day if these benchmarks are not met.
An alternative to the five difficult challenges listed above is for the ANC to engage with the newspaper landscape in far more cost-effective ways.
One is to cut back on secrecy (a practice so conducive to leaks and agendas) and instead open up meetings to the press. A second thrust is to jack up media-liaison skills. A third is to advertise strategically in existing newspapers when it comes to key issues.
A parallel approach is to hassle with editors for right of reply. Or — as some ANC people have successfully done recently — make use of the press ombudsman’s office or the courts to gain redress.
Lastly, the party can arrange increased state support for the Media Diversity and Development Agency. That would see many more newspapers come into existence — especially those in local communities and in indigenous languages.
Although these would not be mini ANC newspapers, such a pluralistic scenario does address some of the party’s concerns.
Driving the ANC’s desire for its own paper is dissatisfaction with the fact that no newspaper currently gives it the kind of support it wants.
But the organisation might consider a remark by Chris Hani in 1991: “It would be wrong for the ANC to dismiss media criticism — Though criticism is often not a pleasing or palatable thing, for a movement to remain basically democratic, it needs to be criticised — and especially by those sharing its goals.”
My concluding advice: get your practices and policies right. If there is no fuel for unfavourable coverage, you’ve won half the battle — and saved yourself spending fortunes on a publication.