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Media make the news as rows escalate Lawsuits, grievances, sackings and counterclaims roil SA's fourth estate Shanaaz Eggington, Pearlie Joubert and Andre Jurgens, Sunday Times, Johannesburg, 26 January 2014 South Africa's in-house media wars escalated this week, with an editor taken to court by four colleagues and another fighting her dismissal. Ferial Haffajee, editor of City Press, was the subject of a R12-million defamation suit brought against her by four colleagues. Alide Dasnois, former editor of the Cape Times, took her politically connected employer to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), claiming unfair dismissal. Attorneys acting for Denvor de Wee, Khanyiso Tshwaku, Mawande Mvumvu and Muntu Vilakazi filed papers at the High Court in Johannesburg on Friday against Haffajee and Media24 – the first salvo in a defamation suit by four colleagues who the editor allegedly implied were "racists", "culturally superior" and caused "divisiveness" at a staff meeting In December. Haffajee put up a sign saying "No racists allowed", sent staff an e-mail titled "Dear racists among you", and copied the four on an e-mail to a human resources practitioner in the company In which she asked to lodge a grievance and said the four were "divisive and, apart from one, not very good at their jobs". Dasnois took her bosses at Independent Newspapers to the CCMA in Cape Town. The dispute remained un-resolved by the end of the day on Friday. She was fired – or "redeployed" – by Independent Newspapers executive chairman Iqbal Survé on December 6. Her departure unleashed an unprecedented battle on the pages of the Cape Times as journalists, editors, former editors and the newspaper's new proprietor vented their anger, frustration and spin. Outside the Cape Times offices in St George's Mall, Cape Town, there were protests and counter-protests by a group linked to ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman. In a week of drama for the Cape Times and Independent Newspapers: • Donwald Pressly of Business Report, a supplement to Independent's morning titles, was suspended for reportedly seeking to represent a political party in the elections. His lawyer, Michael Bagraim, said: "He was not hiding his DA membership from anyone and said that he was a member the moment he was asked. We are not aware that it is against the rules and regulations under which he operated to be a member of a political party." Business Report editor Ellis Moyandu sent staff an e-mail about Pressly on Wednesday, saying: "I have to inform you that the company today instituted an internal disciplinary process over Donwald's conduct." • New group executive editor Karima Brown warned editors against flattering Survé. She said "brown-nosing" stories, such as one in Business Report that described the chairman as a "valued" member of the World Economic Forum, were discouraged. Business Report published a Q&A – by an anonymous writer – with Survé the next day on his plans for Davos; and • Business Report veteran Terry Bell's column was dropped. "I have informed the editor and, via him, the putative new owner, that I consider the actions taken to constitute an abrogation of my long-term contract and that this probably amounts to a situation of unfair dismissal," he wrote in an e-mail. Bell had been vocal about the dismissal of Dasnois. – Additional reporting by Jan-Jan Joubert [email protected] [email protected] Transcribed -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. 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] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
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