Beeld Editor Adriaan Basson has lost his way
The MTMSA registers its disappointment with yet another example of how skewed and politically biased the media in South Africa has become . In his recent article and online post entitled "How do we get rid of President Jacob Zuma?" Beeld editor Adriaan Basson clearly has overstepped the line between journalistic independence, political vilification and character assassination. He has clearly lost his way as a journalist and wandered into the realm of political spin doctoring.
By misrepresenting the facts of the controversial issues surrounding President Zuma and making de-facto claims of guilt around Nkandla before any court of law has done so clearly points to a political attack upon not only President Zuma himself but also upon the elected office of the President.
To call into question the Presidents ability to be a leader for the people because of events like Marikana and the African banks collapse exposes the hypocrisy of Mr Basson because there isn't a President in the world under whose watch these kinds of events doesn't happen from time time as they are not in direct control of these events, and indeed many previous presidents of South Africa presided over far worse acts of state sponsored terror under apartheid era times.
Where was his calls for the unseating of those presidents then? The handling of these matters are purely subjective, In some peoples eyes the Presidents handling of these events was appropriate whilst for others not. As an editor Mr Basson is meant to be balanced and fair looking at both sides of an issue or individual, not being blatantly biased and participating in manufacturing a political story to bring regime change through the media with articles such as the one he wrote.
To the majority of people in this country, the voting electorate, who are predominantly black South Africans, President Zuma is a veteran of the struggle, a statesmen who cares for them and understands their issues and their culture. For people like Mr Basson President Zuma's unconventional wisdom, diplomacy, and African leadership style is seen as a weakness because the President does not succumb to pressure to be more Eurocentric or western in his style of leadership or thinking. He is an African leader presiding over an African nation and actually has not done a bad job in his position when compared to many European countries whose economies are in the toilet, whose GDP growth is far below ours and unemployment rates are spiraling out of control. Being an African leader does not equate to being a bad leader.
As an editor, to use his newspaper and platform to actively campaign against a sitting President so soon after a democratic election gave him a unanimous mandate to lead and govern can only be seen as political interference and as a proponent of the political opposition in South Africa crying over spilled milk...
We reiterate our call for a Media Industry Charter which can govern the media Houses and help it steer clear from being a political tool or being biased. We also call for an audit of the various media houses and publications in South Africa to ensure that there is transformation, adherence to employment equity , salary parity, BBEEE, and that black smme procurement systems in place.
Statement issued by Wesley Douglas, MTMSA Convener, August 19 2014
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