SA Made Africa Proud

| Monday July 12, 2010 00:00

A lot of sceptics have been critical of South Africa in building capacity to host a massive event like the world cup. By all standards the 2010 World Cup will for a long time remain South Africa's success story.

It takes dedication, passion, commitment and political courage to successfully stage an event of this magnitude. The Botswana National Front (BNF) would like to thank our South African brothers for making Africa proud. It remains our hope that other African governments including the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government will learn from South Africa and realise that political leadership is a prerequisite for the success of every national project.

 As always both the print and electronic media ensured that people throughout the world were kept up to date on what is happening in South Africa.  Our local print media as usual did a wonderful job, relaying the world cup news and message to ensure that everyone is up-to-date with what is happening in South Africa.

It is under these circumstances when the nation is up-to-date with current affairs that one appreciates the role of the media as a source of information. This role however comes with responsibility, which is to guard against acts that are not in the interest of the public.  Media personnel are often given access to areas where they may be restricted access to the general public. Access to restricted areas is a privilege inherent with journalism profession, which should never be abused.

 We were disappointed to learn of the journalist from the Sunday Mirror who is alleged to have orchestrated an incident involving an English fan who found his way into the dressing room of the English team. These allegations though still to be proven in court show how dangerous irresponsible journalism can be.

The South African police reportedly suspect the motive was to put the world cup security in bad light and to possibly profit from the act. If indeed this was the motive of the journalist, then this was a horrendous massacre of journalism ethics. Journalists have a lot of influence in shaping public perceptions. It is wrong for a journalist to orchestrate an incident to create a false impression in public. This makes a mockery of journalism.

If it turns out in court that indeed the journalist from Sunday Mirror arranged access for the football fan to England dressing room then it will become clear how dangerous unethical journalism can be.

This is because had it not been established that the fan's entry into the dressing was schemed by a journalist who allegedly had an ulterior motive the whole world will by now be given an impression and rightly believe that South Africa did not have its house in order on the security aspect. This is wrong. The public places a lot of confidence on journalists to provide information on facts and these facts should not be distorted for narrow and selfish individual interests.

It is irresponsible journalism like the alleged incident that give governments with a hidden agenda an excuse to entertain absurd legislation like the Media Practitioners' Act in Botswana under the pretext of curbing irresponsible journalism. At the BNF we believe the Botswana Press Council's Media Complaints Committee is doing a sterling job. They have been professional and delivered fair judgements.

But why is it that the BDP government now wants to regulate this industry having a minister, who is also a political party functionary, appoint almost all members Complaints Committee as provided for in this Act?

The BNF on the other hand believes in Self-regulation. Government has no business in the media except to compete for coverage like any other body in society. 

 We urge local journalists to refrain from such low levels of journalism, as in the case mentioned above, because they ridicule the journalism profession. Even here we have some, not all journalists, who fail to uphold the journalism principles and allow their personal views and opinions to rule over their pens. 

As mentioned earlier, the nation looks up to the media for information.  The media itself is so powerful and those who are entrusted with it should deliver the mandate with a high level of objectivity.

The media influences and shapes public perceptions. When media personnel communicate their views, which they should be allowed to, they should make it clear to the readers that it is their opinion.

 To address this problem, we believe that assistance should be extended to media houses so that, as part of continuous professional development, they can invest on journalism ethics training courses. This will ensure media houses are standing on solid ethical foundation and play their public role of providing accurate information and educating the nation. Moeti MohwasaBNF Information and Publicity Secretary