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News Headlines President notes concerns over Tools

"When the Sunday Times hurts, Currencies Commodities JSE Today


SA journalism hurts"
EXCLUSIVE: First publication of Sunday Times front page 24 August 2008

controversial report into editorial failures at Click here for the final report by the Sunday
Editor's Picks
South Africa’s most important newspaper Times Review Panel
MICHAEL BLEBY AND CHANTELLE BENJAMIN Cover letter of the final report by the Sunday NEWS ANALYSIS: Fracking in wet Wyoming
Published: 2011/06/15 01:59:22 PM not same as in dry SA
Times Review Panel
TELFORD VICE: Try figure it out if you can —
PETER BRUCE: The debt we all owe to
Front-page stories at Sunday Times that turned out to some are just stumped
be false or vastly exaggerated risked damaging Michelle Solomon
journalism not only at the country’s largest weekly Q&A with former Sunday Times editor Mondli
paper, but in SA as a whole – a risk at a time when
Makhanya
politicians were gunning to curb criticism that could Most Read Most Commented
hold them to account – an as-yet unpublished report
into problems at the paper states.

A series of high-profile stories in 2007 and 2008, such as utility Transnet’s apparent sale of the sea Services & Updates
adjacent to Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront development to foreign investors, sensationalised allegations
against Land Bank officials that were not backed up and the details of which subsequently changed , and Follow us on Register for:
the news of a lavish birthday party for the 13-year-old niece of Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni all Twitter
gave ammunition to politicians who wished to see the wings of the paper – and journalism in general – -Daily Newsletter
clipped, the 2008 report says. Top stories -Article Comments
"When the Sunday Times hurts, South African journalism hurts, and so may the country’s democracy. BusinessDay On -My Portfolio
The paper has built credibility and standing over many years, and a reputation for high-quality and your mobile
incisive journalism. In this report we have set out to shore up these foundations," the report by former
Saturday Star editor Paula Fray, Wits University Professor of Journalism Anton Harber, former national Subscribe to:
editor of SABC radio news Franz Kruger and media lawyer Dario Milo. The report is today published for
the first time, on the Business Day website. -E-Edition
-Print Publications
"We are conscious of the fact that there are those who would use the paper’s recent problems to damage
-News Headlines
it and encourage it to temper its voice."
(SMS BDNEWS to 31899)
Scrutiny of the country’s biggest Sunday paper, with an audited weekly readership of 3,8-million, has not
only given ammunition to would-be critics of the media in general, but it has left the owner , Avusa , –
half owner of Business Day – vulnerable to charges that it is unwilling to open itself to criticism. The
company did not make the report public, as the panel recommended it did, and has recently declined to
hand it over to a reporter from online publication the Daily Maverick who asked for it through a
Promotion of Access to Information Act request.

As a result, it is not clear how far the Sunday Times has gone in remedying the faults that led to the
failures, former Mail & Guardian editor Prof Harber said yesterday.

"I think they implemented only part of the recommendations. One was that they have a review six
months down the line of their progress and they chose not to do that. Without it, it’s hard to know
certain things that they have done but it is clear that some things have not been done," Prof Harber said
earlier today. "They let themselves down when they didn’t publish it openly."

The report, based on a three-month period of scrutiny of the publication by the four panel members,
found that a core problem was the newspaper’s organisational structure, which it said "has been allowed
to grow wild over many years, and has now reached a stage where it obstructs effective editorial decision
making."

The role of individual editors in the news process was weakened by the role of a regular conference of
editors "which takes far more decisions than it should," the report says.

"Almost everyone who deals with conference found it difficult, hostile, sometimes ignorant, and at the
same time unable to ask the right questions. The centralisation of power in conference firstly makes it
difficult for others to question decisions, since, after all, they represent the consensus of the paper’s
leadership. Secondly, it disempowers editors."

Further, the newspaper had developed a habit of not attributing information it reported on in an effort to
sound more authoritative. This had the effect, however, of not giving readers the opportunity to decide
for themselves how much weight to attribute to any given piece of information.

"It is clear that the newspaper has developed a style of downplaying or withholding details of where
information comes from, in the belief that it sounds more authoritative," the report says.

There was also a tendency to sensationalise stories.

"We found that the newspaper has often stretched the limits of acceptable editing too far, and has made
itself vulnerable to accusations of sensationalism, " the report's authors say.

One example the report considered was a story that began with a front-page splash on 24 August 2008,
with a headline stating: "Transnet sold our sea to foreigners". It was followed two weeks later by stating
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that the headline, a diagram accompanying the story and a statement that the extent of the area of sea
sold "went too far".

Despite the newspaper’s retraction – unspecific about what was wrong – the process that led to the story
being published in the form it was showed up serious errors, the report says.

"We believe that elements of the story were sensationalised without reason by the newspaper… The
editing gave the story a sensational angle that the reporter appears not to have intended, and that the
documentary evidence – seen only by the reporter – did not justify. Without having seen the evidence,
the editing should not have taken the course it did. Likewise, the reporter should have objected to the
edits to the story."

A separate package of stories that began in 2007 about the Land Bank, a state institution originally
created to promote investment in agriculture and other land-related activities, publicised serious
allegations about malfeasance at the institution by senior officials. While many of the details turned out
to be correct – and the institution has since been placed under the control of the Treasury – the
newspaper erred in the way it went about it.

It repeated allegations about the Land Bank head contained in an audit report without stating it had not
seen the actual report, reported allegations as fact, exaggerated the extent of money subject to fraud
and had not given sufficient weight to responses made by then bank head Alan Mukoki. In subsequent
stories it published on the matter, as it got more information, the newspaper changed the facts it had
earlier stated, but without admitting the mistakes it had earlier made. The newspaper also made
allegations against another Land Bank official without giving him the right of reply.

"More difficult to understand is why, " the report asks, "when the Sunday Times received the audit report
and it became apparent that some of the reported figures were inaccurate, these were not corrected in
the paper. The paper did report some of the correct figures in its report of 20 January 2008, but without
ever acknowledging that it had previously erred. The result was that there were contradictory numbers in
the public arena, with little indication of which were reliable," the report says.

A third case the report raises is that of a September 2008 page-three story headed "Tito’s niece, 13,
throws a stylish bash" with a sub-heading "Fancy goodie bags and a former Miss SA for the girl whose
uncle signs the banknotes".

It was unclear whether the story, about then Reserve Bank governor’s niece, was of sufficient public
interest to warrant its publication, the report says.

"There needs to be greater clarity about what can and cannot be published in regard to children in
particular. If the child had not been named, then no privacy issue would have existed. We are surprised
that there appears to have been no substantive discussion on whether the child should be named," the
report says.

The report (available on www.businessday.co.za) goes into other stories the Sunday Times published, but
says one effect they all have is to present the country’s mass media as unwilling to listen to criticism,
despite being an institution that demands accountability of those it scrutinises.

" The newspaper’s behaviour does little to endear itself to the general public – which only plays into the
hands of those would see it tamed and less vigorous. "

"For many readers, the practices and habits of journalists are thoroughly opaque, and decisions are hard
to understand. The ANC line "they will do anything to sell the paper" has much wider resonance than
media people would like to believe. A recent Wits University research project found that a very high
proportion of people believe that journalists routinely buy information. The myths out there are very
damaging to credibility. The answer is simply for journalists to do more to explain themselves," the
report says.

Click here for the final report by the Sunday Times Review Panel
Cover letter of the final report by the Sunday Times Review Panel
PETER BRUCE: The debt we all owe to Michelle Solomon
Q&A with former Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya

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subject and are not abusive, vulgar and/or discriminatory

By: Reynell On: Jun 15 2011 5:50PM Report Abuse


I never buy the ST. There's far better reading to be had.
Bring back The Weekender !

By: msolomon On: Jun 15 2011 6:08PM Report Abuse


Published in April and May, my attempts to get the
Sunday Times report into the public domain:
http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2011-
04-07-sunday-times-and-me
http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2011-
05-12-sunday-times-and-me-part-ii-the-empire-strikes-
back-sort-of

By: msolomon On: Jun 16 2011 11:48AM Report Abuse


Sunday Times, Business Day, the report and me by
Michelle Solomon
http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2011-
06-16-sunday-times-business-day-the-report-and-me

By: POST2011 On: Jun 16 2011 12:24PM Report Abuse


Now we know why Mondli Makhanya was removed as
the Editor of the Times. Goodness me, the man is the
Chair of SANEF! This says a lot about the ethics of the
organisation itself. After all, isn't the ANC judged on
Jacob Zuma by the very same media?

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