Well put my Dear Comrade
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of morgan phaahla Sent: 20 July 2010 10:39 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] Independent Media Tribunal Indeed, the call by the ANC for the establishment of an independent media tribunal to deal specifically with unethical journalism in this country is long overdue. We cannot continue to allow a situation where a former journalist is being paid by the media to adjudicate in the public interest on matters affecting itself. The self-regulatory system has proved not only to be biased but defective to serve interests of the media at the expense of the moral fibre of the society's values. The complaints of journalists over-stepping the mark to publish diabolical allegations without taking reasonable steps to verify any accuracy, have fell to deaf ears because the ombudsman is not comfortable with tackling former colleagues or bite the hand that feeds him. This is a serious discrepancy. In fact, it illustrates dearth of ethics of journalism and loopholes wrought out by the system itself. It's for this reason that media must take away the mask and uphold journalistic ethics sacrosanct to the profession. And endorse a call for an independent zero-fault system to deal with corrupt journalists and editors susceptible to "brown envelopes" to champion a certain political agenda. This includes those playing a part in narrow factional interests to catapult conspiracy theories driven by the desire to publish diabolical allegations and dirty gossips about others without any regard for their feelings or family. I do not why there is such a resistance against the tribunal when its existence will harmonise the current system of self regulation to help media regain its lost credibility and dignity in society. Put simply, media has abused this system for a long time and entrenched guilty verdicts in the court of public opinion as normal practice to the level that society had grown accustomed to it. This is not only legally flawed but unconstitutional. This violation of human dignity needs urgent attention so that media practitioners use freedom of the media to promote the spirit, purport and objects of the Constitution. To this end, I call upon Progressive Youth Alliance to lobby for the establishment of an independent media tribunal. Further applaud the SACP for its resounding resolution to mandate its delegation to the forthcoming ANC National General Council to raise this matter and ask for measures to be urgently put in place to create such an independent media tribunal. Now is the time to put an end to the cynical agenda of the media to impose its own right to inform the public with distorted news and stories fraught with falsehoods, all driven by profit and desire to up sales. This remains the only wayforward. Yours comradely, Morgan Phaahla "Sometimes, if you wear suits for too long, it changes your ideology." - Joe Slovo --- On Mon, 7/19/10, Dominic.Tweedie <[email protected]> wrote: From: Dominic.Tweedie <[email protected]> Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Independent Media Tribunal To: [email protected] Date: Monday, July 19, 2010, 7:45 AM SACP SACP Statement, 19 July 2010 Independent Media Tribunal The SACP wishes to reiterate its full support to the call by the ANC for the establishment of an independent media tribunal as part of strengthening the twin imperatives of media freedom and public accountability. It has been our view over the last few years that whilst media freedom is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, and must be protected and defended, self- regulation by the media of itself is hopelessly inadequate. It is one of the fundamental tenets of our constitutional democracy that appropriate checks and balances in exercising our democratic rights must always be put in place. Whilst the media is not a public institution per se, it nevertheless plays a critical role in informing the public. Therefore it is absolutely essential that an independent body through which complaints about the media can be speedily processed through an affordable process be set up. The Press Ombuds is inadequate. It is a body appointed by the media and made up of people from within the ranks of the media to judge itself. In addition, the requirements of the Press Ombuds for complainants to waive their legal right to seek recourse through the courts once a complaint is lodged through the Ombuds is, in our view, not only unconstitutional but also not adequate for purposes of lodging complaints about the media. Whilst every South African has a right to directly approach the courts for relief where they feel their rights have been violated by the media, this is an expensive route that is simply beyond the means of the overwhelming majority of South Africans. It also is a very lengthy process that is unable to provide prompt redress to protect the integrity of those who feel their rights have been violated. The SACP will mandate its delegation to the forthcoming ANC National General Council to raise this matter and ask for measures to be urgently put in place to create such an independent media tribunal. In addition we shall also be mandating our delegation to urge the ANC and government to accelerate the transformation and diversification of media in our country. Issued by the SACP Contact: Malesela Maleka -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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