SEWER JOURNALISM PURSUING REGIME CHANGE AGENDA
One of the main media stories to emerge from the bi-annual Lekgotla of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress held on 24 – 27 January 2016 has been about the influence of the Gupta family on the behaviour of individual ANC leaders and the decisions of government. The narrative is that this revolves around the closeness of the family to President Jacob Zuma.
One would be pardoned to think that newspaper editors compete about who will publish the juiciest Zuma story.
How much is fact about reports on the influence of the Guptas on President Zuma and other ANC leaders; and how much is fiction, rumour and malicious innuendo?
The column by Justice Malala “Who’s running this country?” in The Times (01 February 2016) also goes to great lengths to spread the gossip.
A couple of things that are rumour, fiction and malicious reports about the influence of the Guptas are its basis and reach. What do the Guptas have to give that outweigh what everybody else can give? The media reports are devoid of facts.