ANC YOUTH LEAGUE STATEMENT ON THE PRESS OMBUDSMAN'S REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE THE STAR AND DAILY SUN'S VIOLATION OF MEDIA ETHICS.
On the 1st of April 2011, the ANC Youth League wrote to the Ombudsman to consider and investigate the following issues:
- Who inserted the wrong quotations The Star Newspaper published on the 29th of March 2011, because the Journalist The Star blamed has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he was not responsible. He even wrote to the Press Ombudsman to indicate that he was not responsible.
- Why Daily Sun claimed to have spoken to Matome Sebelemetja on their Wednesday story whilst they did not. Daily Sun's Wednesday report said in bold letters that "MATOME SELEMETJA SAYS HE'S GOT NOTES OF MALEMA'S CRITICISM OF THE PRESIDENT AND HIS GOVERNMENT!" They then go ahead and repeat the lies, despite the fact that no one in Daily Sun spoke to Matome Sebelemetja.
- Why the AENS terminated the services of Matome Sebelemetja (the Journalist who is wrongly blamed by The Star and Daily Sun) before a thorough investigation has been conducted on who was responsible for the insertion of those quotations.
In our request to the Press Ombudsman, we said that, "We have strong and correct views on the regulation of the media conducted by the Press Ombudsman, but we thought that before the introduction of a more efficient and effective media regulation mechanism, we request you to perform that function". The ANC Youth League wrote to the Ombudsman because we believed what the ANC said on the entire issue of deliberate distortions that an apology by the Newspapers is not adequate and that further action had to be taken.
Predictably, the Press Ombudsman who is appointed by Media Houses and therefore their representative, refused to investigate these serious allegations saying that the Press Ombudsman is not responsible for investigations. The ANC Youth League is not at all shocked by the response of the Press Ombudsman, because we are fully aware that lodging a complaint with the Press Ombudsman is tantamount to seeking ‘cat-justice'.
The ANC Youth League will explore all available avenues, including Court action to ensure that all the unanswered questions are answered concerning the allegations made by The Star, Daily Sun and African Eye News Services. Our call for an urgent establishment of the Media Appeals Tribunal has now gained more weight and should be placed on the agenda of Parliament. Self-regulation of the media in South Africa is a threat to democracy and dignity of many people and should be stopped as soon as possible, because the Press Ombudsman is not only toothless, but pathetically useless.
The ANC Youth League has noted, not welcomed the apologies of both The Star and Daily Sun and expects them to lodge full scale forensic investigation to tell the entire truth on what exactly happened. Apologies cannot be used to hide criminal actions of certain editors and sub-editors who concoct quotations and attribute them to the leadership of the ANC Youth League.
Statement issued by Floyd Shivambu, ANC Youth League spokesperson, April 4 2011
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