Cronin calls for balance in press freedom debate

Jeremy Cronin, deputy general secretary of the SA Communist Party, calls in an essay on the SACP website for a more considered debate about media freedom.

Cronin, who is also the Deputy Minister of Transport, bases his analysis on the results of a survey commissioned by the National Press Club about the opinions of reporters in South African newsrooms.

The Press Club said in a statement announcing results of the survey last month that while most newsrooms have codes of ethics, these are seldom discussed in relation to news reporting and writing.

"The independent survey... also highlighted the seemingly competitive nature that exists between newspapers, which impacts on ethical standards of news stories.

"This perspective, coupled with pressurised journalists and the publication of news stories without proper cross-checking of facts, suggests that the emphasis has shifted from news quality to news quantity. Stringent deadline and editorial requirements are additional factors at play," the club said.

Cronin said the survey pointed to greater concern among more experienced journalists about the state of their profession.

"The problems are largely systemic - they relate to the corporate culture of the management of the major media houses (not excluding the SABC). It is a culture that places a premium on profits.

"The downsizing and juniorisation of newsrooms, unbearable workloads on senior journalists, and shoddy work are the frequent results. This is not, of course, to excuse individual journalists from the responsibility of professional ethical conduct, but it does help to place in context where the real challenges lie," he said.

Calling for "a more collegial discussion" between journalists and politicians, Cronin said both sides should step back.

He accused the media of exaggerating the threat to press freedom in South Africa but conceded that the debate had been soured by what he called "the rough handling of individual journalists and mixed messages emanating from certain quarters of our alliance".

"...that means that on both sides lazy paradigms need to be abandoned. For politicians it means moving away from the blanket assumption that 'journalists are the enemy'. But equally, journalists need to move away from the simplistic presumption that ruling party politicians are, by definition, the enemy of the press and every other kind of freedom," he said.

Cronin did not specify the events he had in mind but could have been referring to ANC Youth League President Julius Malema's public ourburst against a BBC radio reporter, whom he called "a bloody agent", or the arrest of Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika, who reported the allegedly corrupt police lease of a new building in Pretoria.

Read Cronin's essay here