| Franz Kruger |
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 A community offended
Maybe race is still too big an obsession for South Africans to have a reasonable discussion about it. Real, old-style racism has been driven underground -- into private discussions around the braai fire and nasty little corners on the internet. Honest public discussion about race is rare. |
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Sleaze: Devil's in the details
What do you know, and how do you know it? That was the headline on a 2004 column by the public editor of the New York Times, Daniel Okrent, in which he dealt with a report on sex slavery in the United States. The specifics of the article and criticism against it are unimportant in this context. |
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Somerset story was reasonable ...
The following is the text of a response I recently sent to Jeremy Michaels, the spokesperson of Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool. The premier’s office had complained about a Mail & Guardian report that said he may have oiled a deal to sell the Somerset Hospital site. Since he has quoted selectively in order to present me as rubbishing the report, I felt it would be useful for readers to have access to the full version of my views. |
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Journalists are not excused from humanity
Last April’s murder of actor Brett Goldin and his friend, designer Richard Bloom, found its way into “The A to Z of cultural catastrophe” in the Mail & Guardian’s year-end edition. It was a particularly horrifying crime: the bodies of the two men were found with a single shot to the head. |
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By suggesting guilt, M&G; erred on 'black widow' report
Last week’s Mail & Guardian reported on the phenomenon of contract killings commissioned -- if that’s the word -- by relatives of the victims. Similar articles appeared in other newspapers, sparked by the arrest of Mulalo Sivhidzo in connection with the murder of her husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, the son of City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu. |
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Of barbs and quills
In addition to the dramatic court battles and public controversies that have put the Mail & Guardian in the news this year, a steady stream of smaller issues keeps my inbox full. They range from short notes pointing out simple matters of fact to long, accusatory polemics. Almost all have given me food for thought, writes Franz Krüger, the Mail & Guardian's ombudsman. |
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M&G; switches to Cell C
"Last week’s Mail & Guardian posters seemed to have been taken over by Cell C. When I saw the first poster, which claimed that 'Thabo' had moved to the network, I was briefly confused. Which Thabo, I wondered? The penny quickly dropped as the pattern repeated itself. 'Tokyo', even 'Branson' had all moved, presumably taking their numbers with them," writes the M&G;'s ombudsman Franz Krüger.
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The astonishing outburst of Dali Mpofu
And so race re-enters the debate about the media. SABC CEO Dali Mpofu says the current furore about blacklisting is all about “wresting control” of the corporation from “the barbarians”. He writes in City Press that a “right-wing lobby and its fellow travellers in the mass media” is attacking the SABC for “not feeding into their gluttonous, greedy smell of black blood which must be sacrificed at every whim”. |
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The perils of gagging the press
The willingness of the courts to issue interdicts preventing newspapers from publishing has become a deeply disturbing trend. Last week’s order, obtained by MTN head Maanda Manyatshe in the Johannesburg High Court, was the third of its kind in the space of a year. Earlier, some Sunday newspapers were barred from publishing the Danish cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad, and an Oilgate report in the Mail & Guardian was blocked. |
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From interpretation to attribution
If I install a burglar alarm in my house, can my friends and neighbours assume that I am concerned about the possibility of a break-in? It seems a reasonable assumption. The only possible reason for calling in the alarm people is that I want to prevent burglary, which in turn suggests I’m worried about it. The example neatly illustrates the core of the strongly worded complaint by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. |
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A newish eye on the newspaper
Getting through a month of enforced abstinence from one’s favourite addiction, alcoholic or otherwise, is not easy. In my case, I’ve just spent four weeks in Addis Ababa, mainly teaching a course at the university, during which time I was forced to do without my daily dose of South African media, and specifically without my weekly Mail & Guardian. |
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Pre-emption and the press
It must be an unsettling experience: the phone rings and some upstart journalist wants comment on that particular piece of dirty washing that you’d hoped nobody knew about. The call proves that far from being well hidden, your little secret is about to be displayed to the world. And you have far too little time to develop some kind of defence. |
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When lies become newsworthy
The Mail & Guardian recently ran a "Matter of fact" that apologised to Frank Chikane, Director General of the Presidency, for a report dealing with hoax e-mails targeting him. The report in late October ("Motlanthe targeted in e-mail exchange", October 28) cited e-mails that purported to show Chikane and others plotting against African National Congress general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe. |
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Freedom of expression has limits
The row about the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has by now hopefully run its course, at least in South Africa. After intensive discussions between editors and Muslim leaders, apologies have been made, boycott calls and interdicts withdrawn. But the episode has raised questions that remain with us. |
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Stories that make the cut
The stereotypical editor is a grumpy old man who talks in grunts and whose desk is full of dirty coffee cups. It's an enduring image, fuelled by journalists who seem to take pride in having worked under awful bosses. Get a group of them together, and the chances are they will begin trying to trump each other with war stories. My editor was worse than yours -- that sort of thing. |
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Reporting the murky interface
Stories to do with fishing rights seem to attract clichés like a vrot snoek draws flies, as Krisjan Lemmer might say. In the past few weeks, the Mail & Guardian has run several stories about the goings-on in this highly profitable industry, and headlines have been full of references to "fishy deals", people "fishing in troubled waters" or "trawling for politicians". |
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Sick to death of unnamed sources
Imvume Management, the company at the centre of the Mail & Guardian’s Oilgate exposés, has focused its counter-attack on the question of the newspaper’s sources. It has asked the Johannesburg High Court to force the paper to disclose where the information came from. |
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Are we infringing on children's privacy?
Does criticism of the minister of education for sending her children to private schools infringe the children’s rights to privacy? A reader brought this question to the attention of the ombud in the context of a column that laid into Minister Naledi Pandor for a hypocritical lack of faith in the system she oversees. The Democratic Alliance has also been beating this drum. |
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Trouble on the left flank
The past few weeks brought a spate of complaints from the left. The Young Communist League, the Communications Workers’ Union and members of the Zimbabwe Solidarity and Consultation Forum were all unhappy with various reports. Piers Pigou, of the Zimbabwe Torture Victims Project, wrote to complain that a report, “Anti-Zim front fractures” (March 24), was “inaccurate and lazy journalism”. |
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When a mountain's a molehill
"Annan: the SA connection", the Mail & Guardian's headline declared dramatically a few weeks ago. The story dealt with the conflict-of-interest allegations against United Nations chief Kofi Annan.The claims centred on the fact that his son, Kojo, received payments from a Swiss company that was granted a lucrative monitoring contract under the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
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| MORE ARTICLES |
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| Take it on the chin |
| Investigative journalism: The good, bad and ugly |
| Pesky ads and Irish jokes |
