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25 March 2009

I would like to ask everyone here if they can remember that not too long ago; there was no freedom of the press in South Africa. Then I would like to go a step further and say that ethics was a word of limited scope and meaning on the South African journalism landscape.

In fact, was often not applicable. I want to point out that newsrooms were white, and opportunities to discuss aspects of the profession, like this opportunity in fact, would not have been opened by someone like me, namely a woman, and a woman of colour at that. Most of the people in this room would not be able to participate in this kind of discussion, nor be a meaningful part of the profession.

Let me state that this government fought hard, together with some of you present here today, and especially with our host, that is the University of the Western Cape, for not only a free media, but a free and democratic society.
So where did things go awry? I have always held the belief that the media and government work together, like different sides of the same coin. There is no heads without tails. Who holds governments and politicians to account? Of course their peers. But "a journalist is the lookout on the ship of state" is a quote I believe media professionals should be well aware of by the American publisher, Joseph Pulitzer.

I welcome that relationship with the media, but all too often that does not happen. Instead of guiding and assisting government and politicians there is more navel gazing at private lives and sexual peccadilloes than there is the pointing out of irregularities and uncovering of corruption. I am not saying corruption is not reported, but I am saying that after the initial report of the corruption there is often a remarkable lack of follow up in reporting on how that corruption is dealt with.

Nation building is not just the job of government or political parties, it is the job of all who comment on society and believe they have a contribution to make. Journalism, like teaching and nursing, is a noble profession, when practiced ethically and fairly, when there is a right of reply, a follow up and reporting on the verifiable facts at hand and more than one voice in a story.
Too often today, there is only one voice in a story or of course, the ever-popular, unnamed source. Like the African National Congress (ANC), many journalists, at huge personal cost, fought vigorously for the freedom of the media.

We achieved it, together and I believe, we can move society forward together, and I hope that in talking here today you find your way back to the point where it becomes clear that government and the media can have the same goals not in a propagandist way, but in a positive way.

I believe it is the job of the media to keep government on the straight and narrow but to do so ethically, factually and without rancour. Because like the media, government is also the voice of the voiceless, but more than that, while the media can highlight the problems of the people on the ground, government can solve them.

I thank you.

Enquiries:
An Wentzel
Tel: 021 483 2536
Cell: 072 3366 385
E-mail: awentzel@pgwc.gov.za

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
25 March 2009
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za/)