If anybody had doubt about which side of the media-freedom battle line South Africans would choose, that debate was laid to rest this week.

The result of a TNS research survey showing that a whopping 81% of urban citizens of the republic believe it's important to have independent radio and television stations and newspapers, is resounding vote of confidence in the independent media.

The figure was significantly higher than the 73% recorded last year, showing people's increasing preference for a free media and unbiased news. This is particularly important given that the watchdog role of the independent media is a crucial in underpinning democracy.

The survey results make rubbish of the claim by the ANC that the free press tramples on people's rights and that the nation is so upset by journalists and editors running amok that it is now clamouring for measures to rein them in, prompting the ruling party to assume the role of knight in shining amour.

The ANC has yet to prove its claim.

The TNS poll also showed that 75% of urban residents believed the media helped expose corruption.

That also goes to show how much people abhor the looting of state resources and public companies and other acts of corruption.

The research results could not have come at a better time for the Sowetan. The newspaper found itself in court on Wednesday, defending a R20000 defamation claim against it by police boss General Bheki Cele. The case against the Sowetan is also important in that it exposes the lie that the media are a law unto themselves. That Cele has hauled the paper to court shows that the media are not above the law, as the proponents of the media tribunal love to claim.

Without going too far into the details, the case pertains to the use, in June 2007, by the newspaper of a digitally manipulated image of the tough-talking Cele carrying a rifle, depicting him as a no-nonsense crime fighter, taking the fight to criminals. Cele was then the KwaZulu- Natal MEC for transport and community safety.

Cele is miffed that the image was published without his permission and says it is injurious to his privacy, humiliates his integrity, portrays him as "a man of arms" and degrades his physical image.

He has also objected to articles about him urging police to "aim for the head" when criminals pull their guns on them, and linking his remarks to the subsequent killing of eight suspects by police.

The Sowetan, of which this columnist was editor-in-chief at the time, strongly rejects the idea that it - and the media in general - should seek the approval of the people they write about before publishing their photographs and other images they might deem unflattering. But that will be the outcome of this case in the unlikely event of the paper losing.

As journalists we are defending our right to decode official statements and speeches that are often couched in language that obfuscates the truth.

The media cannot be a conveyor belt for spin doctors and their clients, who would prefer them not to interpret what they say, but simply "stick to the facts as they are".

We refuse to be party to the massaging of the truth. May we never live to see the day when journalists are frightened of providing context and interpretation in their stories, but instead resort to the safe, but boring, ping-pong journalism of the he-said-she-said variety.

Such soulless journalism, devoid of the truth, does the public no good.

We dare not betray the trust the public has placed in us, as shown by the overwhelming vote of confidence in the independent media by the TNS research.