South Africa's press freedom in jeopardy

And it's going to get worse as the economy slows this year and next, forcing media to become more and more daring in their efforts to capture audience.

Declining standards

I am now convinced that the privileged position in which this country finds itself, with regard to a globally enviable level of press freedom, is going to dissipate. Standards of journalism are declining alarmingly and it seems to me that those fundamental editorial concepts of "telling both sides of the story" and "checking sources thoroughly" have given way to a culture of shooting first and sort of apologising afterwards.

Two classic examples of muddled media thinking took place last week. First, the University of Cape Town's Rag magazine, Sax Appeal, published a piece of satire in which Christians were referred to as "c*nts" while God was described as "a pervert" and Jesus as "a tool."

Pick n Pay, supporters of the UCT rag for decades, banned the magazine from all its outlets and both the Rag Committee and the UCT hierarchy apologised quite unreservedly. Why on earth, one wonders, didn't anyone at UCT see this coming?

Make students think?

Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro was quoted in the Cape Argus as saying that religions were given far too much respect in society and added that "this is exactly the kind of thing that should appear in Sax Appeal to make students think."

Surely he was misquoted? But, if not, I could not disagree more. Since when does equating any group of people to a female vagina cause any human being to think any more profoundly? It is a ludicrous suggestion. Apart from which, I was under the impression that the South African constitution entrenched religious freedom and the dignity of association. And while I am all in favour of freedom of speech, I am completely against hypocrisy.

Especially the kind of hypocrisy that tempts idiots like the Sax Appeal editors to happily insult Christians when they know full well that if they tried to do the same to Jews and Muslims, they would find themselves in a whole heap of trouble. So, one has to ask whether that insane outburst against Christians was intended to be thought-provoking or was it just plain sensationalism?

Joost for the sake of it

Then, we have the whole Joost van der Westhuizen saga. For the sake of Heat magazine and for the sake of press freedom in this country, I hope those allegations are true. Because if they aren't true, Van der Westhuizen would have been tried and convicted by media.

But, let's just go back to last year where newspapers, radio stations and TV channels went off pop on sensational stories, only to have to retract and apologise afterwards - the Sunday Times having to eat its words two weeks in a row.

In talking to people high up in our media industry, I know I am not alone in believing that far too many editorial teams are playing with their sick leave in an effort to out-sensationalise their competitors.

I have no doubt that it is going to get worse before it gets better and all the while there are certainly a lot of people in this country who are making it their business to collect evidence of all these media cockups. And when the day comes that society forces Government to do something about media delinquency, press freedom is not going to survive with a little apology on page 35 or yelling about freedom of speech.

Far too damning

The indictments are going to be far too damning to save the day.

South Africa's mass media need to think about what they are doing. Because press freedom will not be eroded simply by politicians and the corporate sector growing weary of being closely watched every minute of the day, as well they should.

It will be eroded by social pressure resulting from an increasing lack of confidence in the integrity of the mass media.

All of which could well be sparked by something simple such as a completely insane and irresponsible piece of satirical journalism from a smutty little university rag magazine.

Hopefully, there is still time for the media to consider alternatives. Perhaps it is time for all media in this country to follow the lead of the Sunday Times and appoint an independent editorial advisory board in an effort to ensure that facts and balance prevail against the rapidly increasing gung-ho suicidal path more and more media seem to be taking.