Thinus Ferreira
South Africa’s National Editors’ Forum
wants to meet with eNCA after unhappy and angry editorial staff at the eMedia
Investments-run TV news channel are once again sounding the alarm over alleged censorship in their newsroom over coverage, citing a blackout order of a press
conference of former president Jacob Zuma and saying that "the ghost
of censorship is back in the eNCA newsroom".
This is the second time that SANEF
wants to meet with eNCA management and staff, following shocking allegations of
racism and newsroom censorship in late-2019 when Kanthan Pillay, founder of the
Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP), was first hired and then fired in a
senior news management position at eNCA (DStv 403).
Nothing came of SANEF call at the time
for an investigation into how a politician was appointed as eNCA's director of
news inside eNCA.
The TV news channel was plunged into a credibility and
reputation crisis following newsroom palace intrigued after
reporter Samkele Maseko and others staff left and with Kantan who called
them "rats" who are going to a "sinking ship", meaning the
SABC.
eNCA has been battered by a constant
exit of on-screen and behind-the-scenes talent over the past three years with
multiple staffers exiting to the SABC and growing rival Newzroom Africa (DStv
405), with Thembekile Mrototo who became the latest to leave eNCA and is now
appearing on Newzroom Afrika in a weekend slot since July.
Now furious editorial staffers at eNCA
are once again accusing the TV news channel of censorship and bias in news
coverage decisions after it failed to cover the press conference on 4 July of
former president Jacob Zuma who is now behind bars.
eNCA didn't respond to a media enquiry
on Friday seeming comment.
SANEF told TVwithThinus that it "has
seen a letter by eNCA journalists complaining about censorship in their
newsroom".
"We have contacted the news
management at eNCA to request a meeting. While we await a response, news media
should always strive to reflect the multiplicity of views within codes set out
by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BRCCSA) and the
Press Code."
In an internal memo to eNCA management,
staff claim that eNCA is once again practising censorship in an email headlined
"The ghost of censorship is back in the eNCA Newsroom".
eNCA staff are demanding an open and
transparent investigation into why Jacob Zuma's press conference on 4 July was
allegedly censored at eNCA and are also demanding the appointment of an
independent body to look into eNCA staffers' concerns about editorial newsroom
interference – similar to what was done at the South African public
broadcaster's SABC News division a few years ago.
eNCA staff say that they are once again
compelled to "collectively" raise their voices "as loudly, as
forcefully and as resoundingly as we can muster, in rejection of censorship in
the eNCA newsroom."
"Our observation and experience is
that this tendency has been creeping in gradually, and arguably quite
insidiously, over a period of time; an incident here, an incident there, an
inexplicable decision here, an inexplicable decision there."
"But nothing could have prepared
us for the zero to a 100 full-force nature in which our concerns were to be
dramatised and confirmed 'beyond a reasonable doubt' in the inexplicable,
untenable and objectionable decision to censor the coverage of former president
Jacob Zuma's speech to his supporters in Nkandla on Sunday 4 July 2021."
The memo continues to say that
"There is clearly a chain of command that determines which voices are to
be snuffed out of the airwaves at eNCA".
"And the chain of command, we
submit, does not start even in the most senior position in our newsroom, albeit
implementation of unethical instructions arguably gains momentum at this level
of newsroom management."
"We submit that it is our
reasonable suspicion that the chain of command involves players who ordinarily
should be concerned with the running of the eMedia business, including eNCA,
but not taking editorial decisions."
eNCA staff now demand that eNCA
"investigates the circumstances that led to the censoring of former
president Jacob Zuma's address to his supporters on Sunday 4 July 2021, a news
event that undoubtedly in the public interest and which we had the full
capacity to cover."
Staffers want eNCA to appoint "an
independent body to investigate staff concerns about editorial interference
from the board, eNCA establishes a system whereby major editorial instructions
must be communicated in writing only, if they are to be of any force or effect
[and that] eNCA provides clear editorial direction on the channel's stance on
Jacob Zuma coverage, to which we will respond to."
"We consider these matters to be
of extreme urgency, as each passing hour seems to sink us to new depths. We, therefore,
call on management to consider these matters raised herein, and give a
comprehensive response," the internal memo states. "The Nkandla field
team is demotivated and the output and input teams are outraged given that they
try their best to conquer audience demands."
