Comrades,
Charles Mogale's piece "Fantasising overly needs a cure" (Sowetan, February
11), is of little substance and dull by standards of building the national
interest. It offers nothing objective except to try to spin the shabby work of
editors who stoop so low to publish fictitious and unwarranted allegations into
the private life of ANC deputy president and country's president Kgalema
Motlanthe.
Mogale does not tell readers what motivated his paper to report unverified
allegations fraught with libel and lack of professionalism to damage the good
name of Motlanthe. He simply claims that "I remembered Josh this past week as
the newspaper I work for (Sunday World) got to the crux of the story of the
woman who clearly fantasises about being our first lady." In essence, he admits
indirectly to have been too susceptible to hoaxing, lies and smear to
compromise journalistic ethics sacrosanct to the profession.
Put simply, at the heart of these ethics is critical and investigative
journalism. It means therefore that journalists cannot consciously abuse their
power and then act innocent with claims to seek legal advice after violating
the right to privacy and human dignity of any citizen.
I trust press ombudsman and South African National Editors Forum will take
corrective action against journalists who overstep the mark. Otherwise, this
loophole will give ammunition to sinister forces to exploit in order to
champion their own agenda in the name of press freedom.
Morgan Phaahla,
Ekurhuleni
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