Sorry, I don’t apologise
In his apology to President Jacob Zuma, Citizen Editor Steven Motale mentioned a “sinister agenda against Zuma” (see here). It’s the other way around. There’s a sinister agenda against the media by the Zuma crew.
Think of how often Zuma has threatened to sue journalists. Think of the secrecy bill. There have been threats to withdraw advertising from media which don’t toe the line. There is the ever present threat of a media appeals tribunal. Perhaps the most insidious danger is psychological intimidation of journalists.
Editors need to put their own stamp on their newspaper. In doing so, an editor might need to create distance between himself and his predecessor, in this case, me. Since I first met him, I have been supportive of Mr Motale. I remain so.
Mr Motale has contributed to the national discourse. And my track record is interwoven with his apology to Zuma. Some of the things he said about me were wrong.
On PowerFM, Mr Motale said: “When Martin Williams retired, and immediately became a DA councillor, in the interests of transparency, I insisted … that the story be published. Nobody from the mainstream media picked it up. Juxtapose that with the condemnation that Vukani Mde and Karima Brown got when they appeared in ANC colours at an ANC function … that to me is hypocrisy of the worst kind”.
In fact, I retired in October 2013. I became a councillor 16 months later, the end of February, 2015. Not immediately. That’s why it wasn’t a story. Who cares what retired editors do? That’s news judgment, not hypocrisy. Mde and Brown donned ANC colours at a party rally while they were senior editors at the Independent Group.
Mr Motale said, “Williams does not have his position in the DA based on merit – he was never a politician in his life. It’s a reward for his years of loyal service to the DA”.
Yet when I applied to be a councillor, I was given no special treatment. We 227 applicants went through a selection process, including tests, and in my case, three interviews. I was placed ninth among the final 22.
The DA demands much from councillors. We are subject to performance reviews twice a year. And, contrary to Mr Motale’s suggestion, I have no plans for higher office. Cllr is my limit.
Mr Motale uses “objective” in quotation marks to describe the reporting during my tenure. In fact what we strove for was fairness. I am proud of the efforts of the team during my editorship.
I commissioned a Let’s Face Facts series to show, on the basis of research, that things were not as bad as government critics alleged. Hardly the DA line. Some readers labelled that writer as pro-ANC.
Mr Motale asserts that we used “every DA press release”. I spiked thousands of such releases. I tried to use a wide range of views. I did not follow any party’s directives, and I have no hotline to the DA leadership.
I shall not apologise for opposing the corruption, maladministration and ruinous economics that are the hallmarks of this administration. I don’t apologise for my editorship, or for becoming a DA activist after retiring. SA needs fixing. #
This article first appeared in The Citizen.
