‘Read all the facts and decide whether or not Independent Media was treated unfairly’

In an age in which most people quickly click for their news on unverified, unchecked social media platforms, credible journalism has never been more needed.

Credible journalism that is well researched, well reported, well written, recorded or filmed, has multiple sources and publishes opinion based on and backed up by facts is what stands between truth and information manipulation.

How do you, the reader, distinguish between online or print journalism that is fair, factual and truthful in an ocean of covert and overt agendas or clickbait masquerading as news headlines on social media platforms?

In South Africa, as in several other democratic countries, you can distinguish credible media from fake or malevolent media by checking whether they are paid-up members of an independent Press Council. Why? Because members of Press Councils abide by a Press Code of Ethics and a thorough process of peer review if a member of the public complains that a story has breached the Code

If found wanting, the media house has to self-correct and apologise to the complainant on the media platform where the original story was first published.

Most press councils, such as those in the European Union, consciously opt for self-regulation by representatives of the media industry because government regulation of journalism would go against the freedom of the press.

The Press Council of South Africa takes regulation of our journalism and service to the South African public a step further. It is a voluntary independent co-regulatory system involving representatives of the press and the public as opposed to an exclusively self-regulatory system by editors and owners of the media.

As clearly explained on the Press Council website, the Press Ombud and the Appeals Panel are an independent co-regulatory mechanism set up by the print and online media to provide ‘impartial, expeditious and cost-effective adjudication to settle disputes between newspapers, magazines and online publications, on the one hand, and members of the public, on the other, over the editorial content of publications’.

The Press Council is chaired by retired Judge Fritz Brand, who was recommended by our country’s Chief Justice.

The Appointments Panel is chaired by the esteemed retired Judge Bess Nkabinde. It is this panel that appoints voluntary members of the public as representatives of the Press Council, as adjudicators during hearings and as full-time staff.

Daily Maverick, like News24, Netwerk24, the Sowetan, the Sunday Times, Sunday World, The Citizen, MyBroadband and other credible news sites, opens itself up to criticism and complaints from you, the public, to the Press Ombud.

If we are found to have erred or in any way detracted from our Press Code of Ethics, we obey the Ombud’s ruling – or, if taken on appeal, the ruling of the head of the Appeals Panel, retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, and publish a correction or apology.

If we are allowed to appeal the ruling by Judge Ngoepe, we and the complainant offer arguments to the judge and two adjudicators – one press member and one public member – of the adjudication panel. The complaint is heard and responded to.

I have attended hearings and had to address complaints from the public through the Press Council when I worked at the Sunday Times, The Herald and Weekend Post, and now at Daily Maverick, and while it is never an easy process, I have to say I have learnt a lot from engaging with members of the public who may have felt aggrieved, and from the absolute integrity and understanding of the role of the media by the Press Ombud and the Appeals Panel.

Let’s face facts. Our tribe of editors and journalists did not all stand in the front of the queue when the gods of humility were handing out their glorious gifts. So, admitting we are wrong when the Judge and the adjudicators find against us and in favour of a complainant cuts deep

But those of us who subscribe to the Code do self-correct and do apologise, because we ultimately realise that our work is not about us or our editors’ or owners’ egos – it’s about serving you the public, our readers, with the Holy Grail of truth.

For this, we are willing to fall on our swords and say sorry, we were wrong. We will correct our omission or mistake if it is ultimately found by the independent panel of journalistic peers and the public representatives not to adhere to our Press Code.

I am explaining this separation of truth, credible journalism and integrity from information manipulation by an ever-increasing army of self-serving, no-good greedy grifters, narcissists, miscreants, malcontents and opportunists because there are concerted attempts to muddy the waters of truth and disparage journalists, critical media and organisations like the Press Council.

These organisations are the guardians and watchdogs of us truth warriors and ensure we remain steadfast in our mission to serve you, the public with credible information.

You may  have missed it, but Iqbal Survé’s Independent Media and IOL website have since August published 12 articles/opinion pieces vilifying or discrediting the Press Council of South Africa. These attacks claim that the Press Council mishandled a case against Independent Media, censors the press, undermines freedom of speech, is lenient towards News24 and Daily Maverick and treats Independent unfairly, is corporate-controlled and aligned with media monopolies, and reveals a blatant, racist double standard.

You decide if this is true. Look at the various Ombuds’ rulings against various media houses, including Daily Maverick and News 24.

Daily Maverick had to apologise to the former Public Investment Corporation Chief Financial Officer, Matshepo More, for failing to give her a right to reply.

News24 editor-in chief Adriaan Basson had to apologise to the Patriotic Alliance and Gayton McKenzie for failing to distinguish between opinion and fact when he referred to the PA being ‘blunt about the fact that they are in it for the tenders’.

What Basson did by apologising to the PA is exactly what IOL refused to do when the Press Council required it to apologise to [news24 journalist] Karyn Maughan for an article comparing her to Nazi propagandists for her coverage of the legal battles of Independent owner Survé’s company, Sekunjalo.

In a column, adjudicators who represent the public on the Press Council, lawyers Ben Winks and Helene Viljoen, explain why Independent is raging against the Council machine after voluntarily joining it this year but refusing to abide by its rulings and apologise as the rest of us have.

‘Earlier this week, the Independent Media group of newspapers were expelled from the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA) after they refused to comply with two rulings that found that opinion pieces had transgressed the wide boundaries within which the freedom to express one’s opinion is protected.

‘One piece labelled legal journalist Karyn Maughan a fraud, an apartheid-style disinformation agent, and a racist. Another described Gillian Moodie as a propaganda journalist, a member of a white boys’ club, a virtual plant of the DA in the newsrooms where she worked at the time, and a racist.

‘Neither of these articles was fact-based, which is one of the requirements rendering an opinion fair and justifiable, even in cases where it may be – as clause 7.2 of the Press Code puts it – “extreme, unjust, unbalanced, exaggerated and prejudiced’. The other requirements are that the comment must be on a matter of public interest, not be misrepresented as fact, and without malice …

‘The Press Code does not stand for absolute free speech – it stands for ethical and responsible free speech. The media must be free, yes, but they must also be fair, as the Press Council’s very logo proclaims

‘Safeguarding something also means protecting it from abuse. Safeguarding free speech thus necessarily entails holding those who abuse it accountable.

‘The Press Council’s preamble emphasises that the media serves society by enabling informed judgments and independent scrutiny – key to a democratic South Africa. In expelling Independent Media, the Press Council did not act as a “censor”, but simply upheld its code and the democratic values that underpin it, ensuring that freedom of expression is exercised lawfully.’

By refusing to comply with the independent public and press representative panel and the decision of Appeals Judge Ngoepe, Independent Media shows a flagrant disregard for the basic tenets of the Press Code – the very Code that separates credible journalism from manipulative media misinformation merchants.

There are many wonderful journalists who learnt their craft at Independent newspapers such as The Star, the Cape Times, the Sunday Tribune, the Daily News and The Natal Mercury. Many of our best Daily Maverick journalists worked at Independent. Our new editor-in-chief, Jillian Green, is one of them.

It is a tragedy that the remaining hard-working, honest journalists who work at Independent who still try to abide by the Press Code have to suffer the consequences of their leaders’ hubris.

Independent claims it quit the Press Council because of its bias and it will return to its own internal Ombud’s process.

Let’s not forget the decuplets story by Pretoria News editor Piet Rampedi that Advocate Michael Donen found to be reckless and Independent Media’s own former internal Ombud Yogas Nair found failed to follow standard company procedure.

Despite a health authorities’ investigation finding no evidence of Gosiame Sithole giving birth to decuplets, and Nair calling for an apology, Survé doubled down and claimed in a series of videos that the decuplets were born but were victims of trafficking.

Such recalcitrance shows pure disdain and disrespect for readers and the public in general.

With hindsight, the Press Council should have seen the train wreck hurtling towards them when they agreed to readmit Independent Media into the fold [in January this year].

Sadly, for the journalists busting their guts to serve readers with integrity, Independent’s expulsion from the Press Council could be the final nail in the coffin of any vestige of credibility IOL or Independent Media publications have left.

Write to me at [email protected] to share your views on this.

• Heather Robertson serves as a voluntary press representative adjudicator on the Press Council of South Africa.
• This story first appeared in the weekly DM168 newspaper, here