TRC Final Report

Volume 4

Chapter 6

Subsection 10

■ APPENDIX 1 ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

No report can do justice to the many submissions received by the Commission and the testimony given at the hearing. This report, therefore, contains several serious omissions, including, inter alia, reference to the following issues.

a Reporting on Sharpville. A detailed study of how the Sharpville massacre was reported in the South African press: for example, how the black reporters’ efforts were ignored and the white reporters’ versions used.

b Reporting on June 16. On 16 June 1976, black journalists came into their own. They were the people able to enter townships and report on what was happening and the white mainstream media had, finally, to acknowledge their contribution. Yet their reports were often not attributed to the black journalists whose information was, they allege, used by their white colleagues to sell stories overseas.

c Biko’s death and ‘Black Thursday’. These were both milestones in media history and more attention should have been paid to them.

d Mau Mauing the Media. This records how the media failed to cover the issue of violence perpetrated by the liberation forces against ordinary citizens, councillors, the security forces, and informers.

e The student press. A detailed submission on the harassment of those involved in this sector. The Commission would like to have given more recognition to the student press’s contribution to freedom of the press at the hearing.

f Militarisation of the media and our society. Although this is touched on in this chapter, it could have occupied a much larger portion of it.

g Coverage of political violence and the ‘third force’. The Commission asked the publishing houses to address, at the hearing, the issue of how their publications covered the violence. Unfortunately, this was not adequately done. For example, the manner in which the media covered the violence, possibly because the casualties were usually black, did not always convey how desperate the situation was. The media also failed to investigate adequately allegations of ‘third force’ activities, which were subsequently proved correct.

■ APPENDIX 2: MEDIA UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS

The South African Union of Journalists (SAUJ)

1 The SAUJ was formed in 1920 as a home for white journalists. In 1958, legislation was passed which precluded mixed trade unions. The SAUJ tried on numerous occasions to get government to exempt them from this legislation to allow them to have black members, to no avail. In the 1970s, Clive Emdon as president began to campaign for de-registering the union, which finally occurred in 1977. Only then could black journalists join the SAUJ.

2 The SAUJ subscribes to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) code of conduct and ethics which are, in the main, respect for the truth and for the right of the public to know the truth.

Union of Black Journalists (UBJ)

3 The UBJ was formed in 1972 to restore black journalists’ pride and dignity that they felt was undermined in the newsroom. It was also formed to provide a home for black journalists because the then existing union, the SAUJ, excluded black journalists.

4 On 19 October 1977, the UBJ was banned, together with a number of black political organisations. A number of black journalists and editors were detained, and UBJ stationery and equipment was confiscated.

Writers Association of South Africa (WASA)

5 In 1978, following the banning of the UBJ, black journalists got together and formed WASA which was to continue where UBJ had left off.

Media Workers Association of South Africa (MWASA)

6 In 1986, at a conference in Cape Town, WASA changed to MWASA in order to broaden the organisation and make it all-inclusive of workers in the media. WASA catered for writers only, which was felt to be elitist. MWASA was also an effort to swell numbers for bargaining purposes. It was argued that journalists were too few to influence production should they embark on a strike. The 1990 Star newspaper strike is an example where production was affected when labour downed tools.

7 MWASA embraced the Black Consciousness philosophy and excluded whites. The membership argued that news, current affairs and history was seen only through the eyes of white writers. In later years, at a Cape Town conference in 1990, delegates moved for the opening up of the union to white membership, arguing that it was time the union became non-racial.

Association of Democratic Journalists (ADJ)

8 A group of journalists who saw themselves as ‘progressives’ formed the ADJ as part of the UDF drive to get as many organisations on board as possible. The ADJ’s life-span was short, largely because there were already two strong media unions — the SAUJ and MWASA — that were already active.

Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ)

9 The FBJ was formed in 1997 by black journalists and is open only to black journalists. Its objective is to provide journalists with a platform and opportunities to reflect critically upon issues of political, socio-economic and cultural importance, as well as engaging its participants in defining and articulating an agenda not only for black journalists but also for the society as a whole.

South African National Editors Forum (SANEF)

10 This group was formed in 1996 following negotiations between the predominantly white editors group (the Conference of Editors) and the Black Editors’ Forum. The group sees itself as a link between South African citizens and the world. Their policy statement, drafted in 1997, states:

We strive to promote stories told in a multiplicity of African voices, stories that are well-researched, contextualised, analytical, interpretative in dialogue and with respect for an audience that is complex and diverse.