The green green grass of home
South Africa's woes it seems is the fault of the media.
And yes, it is the media that perpetuates violence, and it is the media that is sowing discord and causing a feeling of negativity.
To add to it all, the media is unpatriotic, while the media is failing to create a colourful image of South Africa being a wonderful country.
This is according to President Zuma when he addressed journalism students from Tshwane University of Technology who were visiting Parliament as part of a trip to Cape Town recently.
He said that because of the way that the media is portraying an unbalanced image, he himself feels like at times leaving this country.
Yes, our President launched a scathing attack on the local media, and apparently the media doesn’t care about informing the public or building the country’s image, but was merely chasing profits.
Zuma also questioned if the media is serving the interest of the public or the interest of the owners and managers of the paper.
The media has also been blamed for spoon-feeding the public with negative stories about government failures but fails to tell the story of how the government has turned the country around from the illegal Apartheid system to a vibrant democracy.
He told the students how he discovered ‘patriotic reporting’ while on a visit to Mexico, where the media doesn’t report on crime because it is patriotic and wants to market that country.
Ouch. And so the media takes a knock on the chin, stumbles around the ring but wait, not done and dusted.
Last time I checked, people were not leaving the country because of negative reporting, but because of feeling unsafe, but because of a lack of jobs and because of bad service.
I’m not seeing a newspaper running around plundering – it is frustrated people who have been waiting for democracy to come to their door who are acting out, because they are tired of the governments promises.
People are not negative because of what they read or hear via the media, but they are negative because of the reality that confronts them daily.
The government wants to believe SA is an example of vibrant democracy, transparency and high morals.
The media can easily be seen as the culprit of perpetuating negativity, but the reality is that media is but a mirror reflecting back the truth.
And the truth does hurt, and it hurts at times worse than when a Springbok prop flattens you in the dirt.
It hurts deep in the gut when a lack of morals, a lack of transparency and the failure of democracy is exposed.
After all, isn’t that what the media is suppose to be – a mirror reflecting the truth?
How is the media supposed to put a good spin on the stranglehold of unions that cripple the country’s economy?
In Mexico, it seems, there is no reporting on crime. So is the media supposed to ignore that more than a 1 000 police officers that have criminal records?
Is the media supposed to ignore the cases of corruption being investigated against politicians and security staff, including national police commissioners?
Is the media supposed to turn a blind eye to the rand that is plummeting, to the increasing woes of the poor, the levels of unemployment, rampant crime, and the escalating cost of living?
If so, then what shall we report on?
Let us write about the blooming flowers in the park (maybe that is not a good idea, because then you have to turn a blind eye to the vagrants), how about taking a picture of the sunset (maybe not, for then you have to turn a blind eye to pollution), or maybe just write about how happy everybody is (we will ignore then rampant problems of drug abuse, domestic violence and obesity).
If the media has to ignore the truth, a fool’s paradise will be created and such a paradise will only exists as an illusion like Thomas Moore’s Utopia.
The people abroad you may fool, but not the people at home. People are not leaving the country because the media is being the media, even at times sensationalistic (let us be honest money makes the world go round), but people are stamping their passport because loved ones are being killed, raped, robbed and are starving on the streets.
This is not the fault of the media or its owner, it is the fault of the government.
It is easy to say that the country is one of prosperity when one possess wealth. But try and tell that to the struggling middle class, to the struggling families in the shack and to the struggling homeless.
Frankly, I don’t care if Mexico has a different policy when it comes to reporting news. I love Mexican food, but this is South Africa – a land of braai, beaches, mountains and biltong, but this is also a land where we toil and struggle to survive.
But despite all of this, you have to wonder how much these statements had to do with the signing into law of the controversial Protection of State Information Bill?
A number of civil society groups and opposition parties claim the Secrecy Bill could stifle media freedom by preventing the press form reporting on certain issues.
The bill could also result in the prosecution of whistle-blowers.
Who knows, maybe this latest verbal attack against the media is but a clear sign that the government wants to muzzle the watch-dog, even if this dog is so-called self-appointed.
Despite what people think, this dog is here to help protect the citizens, and let it also be noted that this dog is not a mere poodle, but it carries some weight in size and bite.
