‘The Press Council has failed the people of SA’
27 May 2022
Six months after the SA Jewish report withdrew from the South African Press Council, the Press Council decided to expel the newspaper from a body of which it was no longer a member.
A dispute arose when the SA Jewish Report reported the opinion of two internationally renowned experts on racist antisemitism, who called a particular cartoon antisemitic.
The cartoon depicted a fat greedy Jew shoving money into his mouth, almost identical to traditional racist antisemitic tropes used by the Nazis.
The acting press ombud overruled the opinions of these international experts without even convening a hearing on the matter. Furthermore, the Press Council denied the SA Jewish Report the right of appeal or to have the matter fully adjudicated before a competent authority.
“We withdrew our membership from the South African press council six months ago, after it became evident to us that the Press Council lacked the skills to perform their job competently, fairly and without prejudice,” says chairperson of the SA Jewish Report, Howard Sackstein.
“Through its failure to recognise the racist undertones of the cartoon, the Press Council became party to the perpetuation racism, hatred and bigotry in SA.
“By calling on the SA Jewish Report to apologise to racists, the press council discredited itself and failed the people of South Africa,” he said.
“As a consequence, the SA Jewish Report, which has a proud history of standing up to racism, informed the Press Council in 2021 that it was embarrassed by its association with the Press Council and that it would no longer associate itself with an organisation of that nature.
“The South African Constitution guarantees the right of freedom of association, and accordingly the freedom to disassociate oneself from organisations whose moral standards do not meet the minimum criteria,” said Sackstein.
“Despite numerous letters to the Press Council, the organsiation failed to ever address any of the substantive issues raised by the SA Jewish Report,” he added.
“On numerous occasions, we requested a meeting with the chairperson of the Press Council, but were not given the opportunity to meet with him to further discuss this issue.
“In a puerile gesture six months later, the Press Council decided to expel the SA Jewish Report from an organisation of which it was no longer a member.
“In so doing, it reaffirmed the newspaper’s decision to disassociate itself with such a body that has failed both the press and people of SA,” says Sackstein.
Statement issued by Howard Sackstein, Chairman: SA Jewish Report, 27 May 2022
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Text of letter to the South African Press Council, 19 February 2022
The South African Press Council 19 February 2022
Dear Ms Mobara
1. I am non-executive chairman of the SA Jewish Report newspaper.
2. I acknowledge receipt of your e-mail addressed to Ms. Krost Maunder, our editor, dated 26 January 2022.
3. As you are aware, we have withdrawn from the Press Council and are no longer a constituent of your “voluntary organization”.
a. We have neither renewed our membership nor paid our dues; and
b. We have informed you on a number of occasions of our withdrawal.
4. The Constitution of the Republic allows both freedom and association and concomitantly the freedom to disassociate oneself from organizations such as the Press Council.
5. Out of courtesy to you, and without any obligation to respond to a letter from an organization with whom we no longer have association or membership, I am providing you with some information below, which will hopefully assist you in understanding the reasons for our decision, last year, not to renew our membership.
6. The Press Council and its dispute resolution bodies (collectively, “Press Council”) failed us as a constituent member in multiple ways, some of which, are, inter alia, set out below:
a. The Press Council appeared to be unable to recognize that it was being used as a political instrument by a person with a political agenda, attempting to make a political point against both the SA Jewish Report and the South African Jewish Community.
i. The Press Council was never established to be a political instrument, involve itself in political disputes and pronounce on such disputes.
ii. The issue submitted to the Press Council had nothing to do with either the Press or the accuracy of its reporting, it was merely a political point scoring exercise and the failure of the Press Council to recognize the significance and motivation of the complainant is a devastating indictment on the Press Council itself.
iii. The Press Council should never have entertained the matter.
b. The Press Council allowed itself to be abused by an entity with no legal capacity or standing for this same political agenda:
i. This has the absurd result that we are faced with today, by virtue of the Council’s ruling, that the SA Jewish Report is required to publish an apology to an organisation that has no legal existence.
1. It is not legally registered;
2. It has no physical location;
3. It has no office bearers;
It is indeed an anonimous, non-existent “fax machine”, political “straw entity”;
ii. Not even the complainant, operator of the one “fax machine” at will accept responsibility or accountability in this matter.
1. That is why he does not make the complaint in his own name but rather in the name of a non-existent “straw man” organization, the SA BDS Coalition. It is a figment of the complainant’s imagination.
iii. This is easily demonstrated:
1. if the SA Jewish Report wanted to take legal action against the SA BDS organization resulting from the dispute, it would be unable to do so because the SA BDS Coalition has no legal capacity to sue or be sued.
2. There would be no location to deliver a summons, no office bearers to name and no registration number, no partnership;
3. It is in fact beyond the reach of South African law, yet the Press Council, in its wisdom has granted it fictional capacity.
iv. To grant legal capacity to a legally non-existent organization, is a slight of hand magical trick, conjured up by the Press Council, with no legal basis or authority to do so.
c. The Press Council allowed an unqualified and seemingly naïve Ombud to draw conclusions on this matter with no understanding of the facts or history of racist antisemitism.
d. The Ombud, who could and should have relied on the opinion of experts, failed to convene a hearing on the manner, making an ill-informed and incorrect decision, the consequences of which he had no understanding.
e. The failure of the Ombud to convene a hearing on a matter of which he had no expertise or knowledge, constitutes a failure of our rights as a constituent body to receive a fair and informed hearing and to be heard.
f. The Press Ombud had before him the expertise of two internationally recognized scholars of antisemitism, one being a professor who has written countless books on the subject, yet the Ombud absurdly thought it within his own expertise to reject these expert opinions, without a hearing. The absurdity of the ruling is patently clear.
g. Through his ruling, the Press Council has perpetuated the use of grotesque racist antisemitic imagery, no different from that used by fascists, communists and Nazis for centuries.
i. because the Press Council appears so ignorant on this manner, we have attached hereto a number of antisemitic cartoons, no different to the antisemitic cartoon which was subject to the ruling.
ii. I imagine there is little need to explain to you the antisemitic tropes repeated in the cartoon, the fat Jewish greedy capitalist that oppresses the workers etc. I urge you to study the numerous cartoons attached and identify the imagery common between all of them. Maybe then you will realise and understand the enormous offence you have caused and our desire to distance ourselves from your perpetuation of Jew hating racism.
iii. It is noteworthy that the increasingly heated Clover dispute (in respect of which the cartoon in question was the subject) is regularly fuelled by these antisemitic tropes to this day.
iv. Speakers at Clover rallies speak regularly of “the Jews”, yet the Press Council appears oblivious to racism.
h. The Press Council ignored the expert opinion of internationally renowned experts on antisemitic racism without any understanding or realization of its consequences.
i. These tropes are no less serious, crass and insulting than other racist tropes that are intolerable and would be considered beyond the pale in an open and democratic society based on dignity, equality and freedom. By way of example only, one can only imagine if the Press Council tried to make a ruling on whether a cartoon of a Black person portrayed as a monkey was racist?
ii. The sheer arrogance of believing that it had the power to determine such a ruling, contradicting international experts and without even convening a hearing on the matter, is simply astounding.
iii. So egregious is the finding of the Ombud that it should have been the Press Council itself who took the matter on appeal, its failure to do so once again underlies the inherent failures in the Press Council itself.
i. The ruling of the Ombud effectively means that no publication can ever call anyone out for racism because in his opinion, that is subjective opinion - even when internationally renowned experts in the field are able to demonstrate the clearly racist underpinnings of the act. In this respect, the Press Council’s allegiance to a radically subjective theory of what constitutes racism is disappointing and contrary to well established scholarship.
j. The Press Council seems unable to recognize its own failings in this regard, and tried to force the SA Jewish Report to apologize to antisemitic bigots for a cartoon that was clearly racist and proclaimed so by international experts.
k. In so doing, the Press Council failed to understand the consequences of its actions, its complicity in the spread of racist antisemitism, its own insensitivity to the South African Jewish community and its heavy-handed manner in which it has dealt with us, our community and the fight against racism.
l. Attempts to meet with the Press Council to discuss the matter, were characterized by stonewalling, delays and backtracking.
7. However, perhaps the most disappointing and egregious was the utter failing of the Press Council’s dispute resolution procedure through the refusal even to afford the SA Jewish Report leave to appeal.
8. This effectively entailed that the merits of the dispute could not be challenged. The SA Jewish Report would be confronted with a costly and lengthy review process which would be limited to review and therefore could not in any event interrogate the fundamental merits of the dispute.
9. So egregious were its failings that the SA Jewish Report would have reasonably expected to Press Council to intervene in the absurd rulings of its own Ombud, but not only did the Press Council fail to act in a reasonable manner, it failed to meet with the SA Jewish Report even to discuss it.
10. In the face of this, you may recall that on 27 September 2021, Ms Krost Maunder wrote to you requesting a meeting with you and your chairman to discuss the matter. I set out a copy of that mail to you below:
Dear Latiefa
As you are aware, I am editor of the South African Jewish Report newspaper. The newspaper is in its 24th year of operation and is the only national newspaper of the Jewish community in South Africa for the Jewish community of South Africa.
Until I joined as editor of the newspaper, the SA Jewish Report was not a member of the Press Council and had established its own mechanism to deal with any complaints under the ombud of a High Court judge. At my request, the SA Jewish Report Board of Directors agreed that the newspaper could join the Press Council.
Our experience with the Press Council has however been disheartening and, in our view, difficult to understand or defend. The Press Council, and its dispute bodies, has been seemingly complicit in, and stood by indifferently to, an ongoing series of demonstrably politically motivated attacks by the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist lobby aimed at silencing and censoring our community.
These attacks have been launched purportedly in the name of a non-existent organisation who have no constitution or demonstrable constituency and who have been unable to or unwilling to share any constitutive documents or leadership details. In spite of this, and contrary to the express terms of the Press Council’s own code, the Press Council has been quite willing to provide a platform for these attacks.
Rather than to dismiss such opportunistic and self-evidently politically motivated assaults as vexatious and malicious as they clearly are, the Press Council has made such thoughtless and questionable rulings that they impinge on the very freedoms guaranteed to us in terms of our constitution.
However, what has perhaps been most disturbing and disillusioning to us has been the failure of the relevant dispute resolution bodies to afford us a full and proper hearing, to entertain our rebuttal of these attacks, to hear detailed argument on these issues, including by oral argument, and then to refuse us an opportunity to appeal. This has seriously undermined our confidence in the objectivity and impartiality of the Press Council and its dispute resolution processes.
The SA Jewish Report’s membership with the Press Council has now lapsed, and the chairperson of the SA Jewish Report Board, Howard Sackstein, has requested that we convene a meeting with the chairperson of your Board, to discuss, the failings of the Press Council and explore whether there is any point in us being members of a body that has served us so poorly.
I look forward to a date from you where we can all discuss this matter, either on-line virtually or in person.
Regards
Peta
11. On that same date you agreed to such a meeting and suggested a date of 12 October 2021, considering that you were on leave at the time.
12. You later replied to Ms Maunder that Judge Levinson had taken ill and was accordingly unable to meet.
13. On 22 October 2021 Ms Maunder wrote to Mr Groenewald of your office as follows:
Dear Fanie
Thank you for your mail.
Our membership of the Press Council has expired.
Given the ongoing vexatious and politically motivated attacks on the South African Jewish community and our newspaper by a non-legal entity representing the anti-Israel lobby, and the Press Councils’ complicity in its failure to protect the SA Jewish Report or recognise the racist behaviour of its complainants, we see little point in continuing our membership of the Council.
On 27 September we wrote to your CEO requesting a meeting with myself, the Chairperson of our newspaper and your Chairperson to discuss the manifest failings of the Press Council and whether there is any point in continuing our association with your Council.
The meeting has been delayed by your CEO’s leave and by your Chairperson’s illness, but at this time we see no point in continuing our voluntary association with the Council.
After the above-mentioned meeting, and should your colleagues be able to convince us otherwise, we will let you know.
Faithfully
Peta Krost Maunder and Howard Sackstein (SAJR chairperson)
14. On 10 November you wrote to Ms Krost Maunder informing us that Judge Levinson, your chairperson was willing to meet with us but required an agenda. A copy of your mail is set out below:
Dear Peta
I hope you are keeping well. I have written a few emails to you in a bid to resolve the issue of non-compliance by SA Jewish Report with regards to the Press Council ruling.
In my letter to you, we stated that you will be required to publish the apology to BDS and that the High Court review of the complaints you have lodged with us is procedural and won’t deal with the merits of the complaints. I am not sure whether the SA Jewish has lodged a review its Press Council complaints to the High Court.
Press Council chair Judge Levinsohn has expressed a willingness to meet with the SA Jewish Report, but would like a response to the letter, as well as an agenda ahead of the meeting.
I have not heard from you and will appreciate a response from you as soon as possible. Is it possible to chat on the phone? My number is [Redacted].
Take care, Latiefa
15. Ms Maunder replied to you on 12 November, and I set out that reply below:
Dear Latiefa
Thank you for your mail. We have been consumed with the work of the annual Jewish Achiever Awards, which celebrate the contribution made by the Jewish Community to South Africa.
If you would like to view the show, here is a link to the Youtube recording https://bit.ly/jaautube
If you would like to see the pre-show Red Carpet – the link is https://bit.ly/jaaredcarpet
The SA Jewish Report print edition covering the Awards is here https://bit.ly/sajrjaa
The Absa Jewish Achiever Awards Magazine covering all of the winners and nominees can be found here https://bit.ly/jaamag
Although we are no longer members of the Press Council, we would be happy to still meet with you and your chairperson.
The agenda would be as follows:
- How we believe the Press Council failed us as a body;
- How we believe the Press Council allowed itself to be used as a political weapon against the South African Jewish community;
- How we believe the Press Council became party to perpetuating anti-Jewish hatred and antisemitic stereotypes;
- How we believe the Press Council’s rulings make it impossible for any publication to describe anyone as racist, homophobic, misogynistic etc;
- How we believe the Press Council fails to protect its members against persons who complain in the guise of a constructed complainant organization in order to avoid personal responsibility for fanciful complaints; and
- Suggestions on how the Press Council could reform to better suit the needs of the people of South Africa.
With regards to your letter, and the questions raised in it, let me be clear – we (the Jewish community) have a proud history of fighting racism in South Africa and around the world. Our community was disproportionately represented in the fight for freedom in South Africa. It is part of the moral fibre of who we are as a people.
Accordingly, we do not and nor will we ever apologise to racists, in any form, for calling them out on their racism – its as simple as that.
I look forward to scheduling a meeting at a time convenient to all concerned
regards
Peta and Howard Sackstein (SA Jewish Report chairperson)
16. Despite having twice agreed to meet with us, on 23 November, we received a letter from you backtracking on the agreement to meet and making such a meeting conditional on pre- compliance on the very issues to be discussed at the meeting.
17. When an organization such as yours is accused of being complicit in racism, and being used as a blunt instrument against the Jewish community, and the response is to make the meeting conditional on pre-compliance with the very issues to be discussed, it was quite evident that the Press Council demonstrates a level of tone deafness to racism and antisemitism that is simply astounding.
18. Your letter had taken none of our concerns to heart and it reinforced why we, as a proud and credible newspaper could never be associated with a body that behaved in the manner of the Press Council.
19. The Council has never been serious about hearing us or even talking to us, let alone being capable of self-reflection on its own culpability.
20. The mere fact that the Press Council cannot even recognize or understand the offence that you have caused or how your actions have contributed to the perpetuation of antisemitic hate, is a tragic indictment on the Council itself.
21. We are a small community newspaper with limited resources. We could either spend our time and efforts in publishing a high quality internationally recognized newspaper in an age of the collapse of the industry, or we could spend our time and resources fighting endless legal battles against people of no consequence to ourselves.
22. We have lost complete confidence in the Press Council which we believe has irreparably failed us, the industry and South Africa.
23. The failure to allow the matter to be fully ventilated and allow us an appeal merely re-enforced our decision to leave the Council.
24. The Press Council has never offered to assist us in any manner or form, let alone have the common decency to meet with a publication that once was its member and once paid its dues.
25. The approach of the council has reinforced our decision to disassociate ourselves from the Council and have nothing further to do with it. We made clear our decision to withdraw from the Press Council last year.
26. From time to time, the SA Jewish Report, like any publication, makes errors. We have never been reluctant to apologize for any error we have made. But in this matter, we made no error, we will not and do not apologize to racist bigots, and we will not be party to an organization that has been complicit in allowing the spread of racist antisemitic bigotry in South Africa.
27. We are in the process of setting up our own mechanism for reviews of complaint as we have done for many years.
Yours faithfully
Howard Sackstein
Chairman : SA Jewish Report
Please see attachments overleaf
ENDS
