Another Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) news team got attacked and robbed and their vehicle broken into, this time while reporting live from East London in the Eastern Cape on Friday.
On Friday criminals robbed a reporting team of the South African TV news channel while they were live on air in East London in the Eastern Cape.
The attack follows a recent attack on South African reporters in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where an eNCA (DStv 403) news crew was threatened and robbed.
The Newzroom Afrika crew were robbed near the ANC offices, with Katy Katopodis, Newzroom Afrika news director, confirming the incident.
"Our Eastern Cape reporter and camera operator were robbed of all their belongings. They were live on air, while robbers broke into the news vehicle, stole equipment and their bags with all their clothing and personal goods inside," Katy Katopodis says.
The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) condemned this criminal attack on Saturday and called on South Africa's law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute the criminals.
"The psychological impact such crimes have on reporting crews, or any worker for that matter, cannot be underestimated as the scars remain," Sanef said in a statement.
"We have seen how volatile it has become
for news crews to go out and be allowed to do their jobs."
"The safety of journalists is
paramount to Sanef; hence we will be seeking ways on how to best protect our
news crews on the field."
"This latest crime, and many others,
concern Sanef as we continue to find ways on training reporting crews when they
go out to cover stories. Such training would largely focus on the safety of
journalists and what do when they go out to cover any story, riots, unrests,
service delivery protests and political rallies."
"Sanef appreciates South Africans
that have come to understand the work the media do and would like to call on
the community to report criminals who continue to steal, threaten, bully, and
prevent the media from doing its work."
