When I was a newspaper editor many years ago, I had a rule that I would never respond to readers’ letters criticising my articles, and neither would any of my staff. My argument was simple: We had the first chance of stating our case and we should not necessarily have the last opportunity. The right of reply should be the preserve of our readers and not journalists. So, I allowed responses from my reporters only as far as factual inaccuracies were concerned.
Nowadays, with social media, the rules have changed completely and it is difficult for journalists to apply the rule that I have always believed in. Social media allows anyone to respond immediately, to tag others who they wish to see their response and to retweet or share which means that their comments can take on a life of its own.
I still try to not respond to comments on my writing, believing that is good enough if my articles prompted people to have a discussion without me wanting to dictate the discussion. But most journalists can’t help themselves from engaging, which then often leads to more and more vicious and sometimes personal attacks on the journalists involved.
I don’t like social media, especially Twitter, and I would not have been on the platform if I were not involved in the media industry, which requires that I need to know what is happening on most platforms.
Twitter users tend to be rude, personal and lacking respect. In the past few days, I have seen slanderous comments being made on Twitter about a senior and respected church leader and I have seen how young people with no experience of our struggle would attack, in a vile manner, people who have given their lives to fighting for the liberation and upliftment of South Africans and continue to do so. I have also seen how some people have reacted negatively and personally to some older people who have already made their contribution in life and try to use platforms such as Twitter as a way of giving back or learning about young people.
Many young people feel that, because they have a sizable Twitter following and they might follow or be followed by prominent people, that gives them the right to say whatever they want to whoever they want to, without applying the basics of respect with which we grew up.
Yes, I know, I am talking about a different generation and that respect should be earned, but you should also be careful about what you say about anybody, just because that person might have expressed an opinion with which you don’t agree. It is always good to look at a person’s body of opinions so that you can make a more accurate judgment.
I spent most of my early career in anti-apartheid media and later, after we became a democracy, made my mark in what is called mainstream media. I have always applied the same rules of journalism, whether it was when I worked for Grassroots community newspaper, The New Nation, South, the Sunday Times, the Cape Times or The New Age. I even applied these rules when I helped to produce clandestine publications on behalf of the Cape Youth Congress and the United Democratic Front in the early 1980s.
I suspect that most journalists, especially the more experienced ones, would do the same. You try to treat all the people you write about with a certain level of respect and, as far as you can, you try to represent most views in your articles. Even when you write negatively about someone, they should not be able to say that you have been unfair. I can cite many examples of when I wrote strong anti-apartheid articles only to receive positive comments from the people who I portrayed negatively in my articles.
But the real reason I am writing this ramble is because I am concerned about the vitriol displayed towards one of my colleagues, Karima Brown, for what is seen as perceived insensitivity by her because she dared to ask about the possible successor to Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu on the day of his death from COVID-19-related illnesses.
It turns out that Karima did not publicly ask about Mthembu’s successor but told a government communicator in a text message that she might ask about it.
Be that as it may, it is an important question to ask, given the important role that Mthembu played in the government’s communication, especially around the coronavirus pandemic and his generally healthy relationship with those in the media. Most journalists, including Karima, had a lot of respect for him.
I suspect that Mthembu would have expected her to continue asking the difficult questions that she has always asked of politicians, realising that politicians have to serve the nation and need to be held accountable by the media.
But the vitriolic attacks on Karima – for even thinking about who would succeed such an important minister – seems unjustified, unfair and, frankly, disrespectful towards the work of journalists. In some ways, I think it is meant to instil fear in journalists who might want to ask certain questions.
There are a few journalists who I suspect might have political agendas – which is not unusual given South Africa’s history and our obsession with politics – but most journalists I know are just people who are committed to the truth and being ahead of the news and/or analysis. Karima is not a news reporter, but she has always broken stories, even through her analysis and interviews with influential people in society, including government ministers.
I suspect that many people who have used this opportunity to attack her feel uncomfortable with her style of journalism. If this is the case, then attack her with arguments, logic and facts and not with personal insults. She might have been insensitive with her query on who would replace the minister so soon after his passing, but she was probably verbalising what many others were thinking.
I suspect that, through my defence of Karima, I am setting myself up for attack from those who attacked her. But I don’t mind. I have experienced much worse. I just wish there was a level of decency in the way we engage with each other publicly and especially on social media. Journalists have an incredibly important job in a democracy, something that Jackson Mthembu understood, and it would be a pity if journalist felt that they could no longer ask questions because they fear a backlash via social media or other platforms. Let us rather engage each other and try to understand each other’s arguments, instead of always wanting to fight and disagree.
(Written especially for this website on Friday, 22 January 2021)
