Mixed reactions over controversial Sunday Times report

"The withholding of the full report while publishing an 'executive summary', which raised more questions than it answered, was a terrible mistake," media freedom activist and veteran newspaper editor Raymond Louw told Bizcommunity.com this week.

"Let down the industry badly"

"It let down the industry badly and has done much damage to industry claims to seek out and publish news in the public interest. Here is the biggest paper in South Africa, if not in Africa, the conduct of which in gathering and publishing news is a matter of high public interest, refusing to publish information which is clearly in that category."

Some said the report constitutes an affront to the newspaper industry, and the media industry as a whole, and might give fertile ground to critics of the media, particularly the ruling ANC, to forge ahead with the proposed media appeals tribunal (MAT).

A senior ANC member told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, Thursday, 17 June 2011: "This kind of report reinforces what the ANC has been saying all along: that there is a need to strengthen the self-regulatory system by providing alongside it an independent mechanism that can adjudicate matters for the interests, of both the media and the complainants.

"That is a fair and logic process. But it is unfortunate that the media chose to trivialise the debate. And it is very unfair to the industry when the media start jumping to conclusions and defence against the ANC proposal.

"Only time will tell"

"And, who knows, there might be many publications that have similar problems. Only time will tell."

Louw insisted that the fact that the report has finally reached the public domain through a leak of some kind will undoubtedly provide ready ammunition for the critics, including the pioneers of the MAT.

"Had the Sunday Times published the report when the inquiry panel requested it, though damaging, it would not have caused as much damage as will now result."

He also said, while it was rightly congratulated on setting up an independent inquiry into a series of serious errors, it was inexplicable that a newspaper, which points out time and again the futility of officials trying to maintain secrecy because of the inevitability that the information would be leaked, should itself ignore that factor in regard to something it wanted to keep secret.

"Can our media be better?"

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) head William Bird said the issue of them withholding the report does appear to go against what media stand for.

"But, does it contain some potentially embarrassing issues? Yes, but it also contains a series of recommendations that we have been assured have been followed. Certainly the Sunday Times has done some excellent stories in the last few years and there is also a new editor.

"We have no reason to suspect that Ray Hartley is guilty of similar lapses as pointed out. So given where we are with the Press Council finalising their review, my sense is that this raises an issue of quality. Can our media be better? Yes, they can. Is this an affront to all newspapers? No."

Bird said those who will push for a MAT will do so regardless. "They may accordingly try and twist these events to show the need for one, but that would be twisted unfair and inaccurate."

For more:

• Business Day: "When the Sunday Times hurts, SA journalism hurts"
  
• Business Day: BRUCE: The debt we all owe to Michelle Solomon
  
• Business Day: Q&A with former Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya
  
• Daily Maverick: Sunday Times, Business Day, the report and me by Michelle Solomon
  
• Blogs.businessday.co.za: The Sunday Times, Michelle, Daily Maverick and Meeeeee by Peter Bruce
  
• Grubstreet.co.za: Give it a break already on the Sunday Times report
  
• Daily Maverick: Jane Duncan on the ever-increasing power of SA's security cabal
  
• Bizcommunity Search: Michelle Solomon
  
• Google News Search: Sunday Times report
  
• Twitter Search: mishsolomon OR "Michelle Solomon" OR "ST report" OR "Sunday Times report"

For More links updated at 12.12pm on 17 June 2011.
For More links updated at 5.02pm on 17 June 2011.