SABC.png ANC slams media over ZumaMustFall campaign Angela Bolowana, SABC News, Johannesburg, 22 December 2015 The African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament and former spokesperson Jackson Mthembu has accused journalists of supporting the ZumaMustFall campaign and marches. In a weekly ANC newsletter <http://www.anc.org.za/docs/anctoday/2015/at38.htm#art1> Mthembu charged that the way in which the ZumaMustFall was covered followed the classic propaganda model. He says the media created a narrative that South Africa was doomed and Journalists followed on this line with their posts on social media. Mthembu says journalists including editors were using social media to mobilise people against President Jacob Zuma and to support the ZumaMustFall marches. Wit ous.jpg He argues that Journalists overstepped their mark. Mthembu says there is a fine line between reporting on an issue of national importance and being seen to be endorsing a position. Mthembu further goes on to say the coverage amounted to propaganda with clear steps. He says, firstly a national event occurred that was received favourably by elements of the media. "This was immediately followed by voices of third parties including policy institutions, think tanks and independent economists decrying the actions of the President. Then international media picked it up and a narrative of SA is doomed gained momentum." His main gripe seems to be that what journalists were saying on social media was not aligned to their commitment to objectivity and neutrality. Goody Two-Shoes denies it The Deputy Chairperson of the South African National Editors' Forum, Moshoeshoe Monare, says media groups are acting within the code of ethics in their coverage of the #ZumaMustFall campaign. "I don't think there is any agreement or contract or form of conspiracy out there that the media groups comment about a particular issue or is going to have a take on a particular issue. We are very diverse media groups and titles and newspapers." "Mthembu is speaking more about people expressing their opinions. Our Code of Ethics does allow for people to express their opinion, journalists or editors, newspapers or radio. That is why those comments have to be clearly marked and honest and not motivated by malice. There is nothing wrong about it and it is within the parameters of the code. Why is it a problem if those comments are expressed through social media?" Monare says. Bilbo also denies it Meanwhile, Media Monitoring's William Bird says the media coverage was not endorsing the ZumaMustFall campaign. From: http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/c22c28004b078e06b20bfa445cadceaa/ANC-slams-medi a-over-ZumaMustFall-campaign--20151222 -- -- 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/d/optout.
