Info Scandal II: Harber spots one difference
“Spot the difference”, I wrote above portraits of B.J. Vorster and Thabo Mbeki, in a post describing the bid for Sunday Times owner Johncom as reminiscent of the Info Scandal of 1978. Anton Harber, former political editor at the Rand Daily Mail, former Mail & Guardian editor and current professor of journalism at Wits University, says there is a difference:
In the Info Scandal, government money was secretly channeled to a sympathetic businessman, Louis Luyt, to try and buy the Rand Daily Mail, then a leading government critic, and when this failed, to launch The Citizen newspaper. The scandal lay in the secrecy, and the abuse of state resources to try and take out a vocal opponent of government.
This time around, it appears to be an open bid by a group of individuals who are entitled to do it in their personal capacities. What is unusual, however, is that a number of them are government officials, in key places such as the presidency and foreign affairs, and senior ruling party members. It seems they seek funding from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), but this is what the PIC does it and as long as it gives them no special treatment, and makes a decision on solid business grounds, I cannot see grounds for complaint at this technical level.
Fair comment. Harber remains concerned, however, calling it a “very worrying development”. He notes some of the dangers, concluding:
Interestingly, ANC media policy currently highlights the need for greater diversity in our media, and no doubt some of them will argue that government needs a louder voice in the media and this is adding to the diversity. But they are wrong - media diversity should serve to give voice to the voiceless, those most distant from wealth and power, and not those who hold and wield the enormous authority of the state.
A few days ago, I expressed concern about the impliations of Tokyo Sexwale, a presidential candidate, owning the Sunday Times. This pales into insignificance against the prospect of members of the Sunday Times board actually sitting in government offices, like the Afrikaans media of the apartheid era.
Some will argue that this is just a transaction by some individual exercising their rights in a free market. Well, it is more than that and it has consequences and implications we cannot ignore. If these individuals want to show that they are not doing it as party officials, they should resign from government and party so that they are not conflicted between their political obligations and their business/editorial ones.
