There is an Indian saying, “The truth is what the neighbour sees, not your mother”.
With community news media more and more financially under the cosh because of readers migrating to often unreliable and unverified sources, of which social media platforms are the best example, the independence of a community newspaper such as Eikestadnuus becomes more and more endangered.
The ghastly condition of South African municipal governance and the serious neglect of sound and accountable local municipal administration were highlighted in the most recent report of auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke.
That local newspapers and community radio have become vital role-players in informing taxpayers about mismanagement and illegal activities by local government officials and councillors, is one of the indirect observations one can make from Maluleke’s report.
For this to happen the hands of the often-unappreciated journalists at community newspapers should be strengthened by members of the community who understand the basic principles of the role the media play in society.
This includes an understanding of the four pillars of the South African Press Code to which Eikestadnuus subscribes. Those pillars are for the media to report news accurately, truthfully and fairly; to minimise harm; to act independently; and to be accountable.
The independence of journalists to do their work is protected by not only the Press Code but is also embedded in section 16 of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of expression.
To come back to the Indian expression above, journalists of Eikestadnuus in “serving society”, as the Press Code emphasises, quite often should be the neighbour, not the mother blinded by blood.
They should be independent of all interest and pressure groups. Interference by any party not to report the news independently to reflect the truth, should at all costs be resisted by editors and journalists.
Quite often the public, believing rumours and blatant fake news on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms, expect credible media, even pressurise editors to publish the nonsense spread through social media. They forget that WhatsApp messages are very often not verified.
Verification of allegations and rumour is a basic principle of credible and trusted media. No story published by Eikestadnuus can escape a process of verification of information. Just because it is published on social media, does not mean it is the truth. Eikestadnuus must adhere to legal requirements not to publish defamatory information, and not to spread untruths that can interfere with legal processes.
Furthermore, not to mislead its readers by publishing fake news, even if allegations and accusations are prominently advanced on social media.
Community media and their journalists are much closer to their communities than those of big news organisations. Quite often, everybody in a town knows who the editor and journalists of the local newspaper are. That leaves them open to more pressure and criticism, even bullying, and in local government politics, the heat on journalists is always very severe. Political parties, councillors and their supporters expect them to dance to their tune, ignoring the independence requirement of the Press Code.
Journalists should always protect their independence as if they are in the last trenches of democracy. But it also applies to how we look at ourselves as a profession, because that self-examination can only lead to protecting our hard-won independence to serve democracy.
It is reflected in the fourth pillar of the Press Code, that the media’s accountability is also a protection against its independence being eroded.
This is well summarised by Piet Cillié, former editor of the Cape Town daily Die Burger and first head of the Department of Journalism at Stellenbosch University: “We in the press, when we so quickly want to quote Lord Acton about the potential of corruption embedded in power, must remember that it is not only authorities which have power: We also have power, power of propaganda, power over the thoughts of people, power to thwart and to disrupt. Our power is not immune against the corruption about what we are so vigilant when it applies to others. It is better that we also look at our own conceit and abuse of power, rather than calling others to account for it.”
. George Claassen is the ombudsman of Media24’s Community Press and a board member of the international Organization of Newsombudsmen & Standards Editors. He can be contacted on george.claassen@media24.com.
