In a few days, on 19 October, media freedom activists, journalists, freedom of expression advocates, constitutionalists and democracy-respecting people in the country will celebrate media freedom and commemorate Black Wednesday’s anniversary.

It marks 19 October 1977, about a month after Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko was murdered in detention, and the then justice minister Jimmy Kruger arrested editors and banned The World, Weekend World and Pro Veritate.

He also banned 19 Black Consciousness organisations, including: the Black People’s Convention, South African Students’ Organisation (which Biko founded), South African Students’ Movement, National Association of Youth Organisations and its affiliates, Black Community Programmes, Medupe Writers’ Association, Zimele Trust Fund, Black Women’s Federation, Union of Black Journalists and the Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of the African People of South Africa.

That was then, 45 years ago. Today, the threats to media freedom, independence and diversity are different from 1977, but the attacks on journalists are real, hectic and from everywhere.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of journalist Karyn Maughan puts media freedom on trial”

The attempted criminalisation of News24 legal journalist Karyn Maughan this week is a first-time case in South Africa’s democratic age. She appeared in the dock of the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, 10 October for requesting information already in the public domain about former president Jacob Zuma’s health. This is probably a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) case, which has been postponed to December.

Job losses in journalism and media sustainability

All “State of the Newsroom” (Wits Journalism) reports from 2013 to 2022 show about half of all jobs were lost in journalism over the past decade. This is due to the digital economy, a drop in advertising and circulation for mainstream media, the social media era, and readers and consumers of news finding community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others.

Community media has been decimated. In its heyday – about 2008 – there were about 575 community newspapers in the country, according to Louise Vale when she was Association for Independent Publishing director. Current director Kate Skinner records half of that. Many people relied on these papers for their very local news, adverts for jobs, sales of goods. The challenge now is for the resurrection of these to publish online as independent sites, rather than as Facebook groups which merely add to the profits of the multinational giants.

Information disorder

Fake news (misinformation/disinformation/propaganda) in the digital age is a huge threat to journalism. While propaganda existed in 1977 with the National Party terror regime, we now have a world media system which complicates traditional journalism.

In South Africa, propaganda will probably increase as we move towards the 2024 election. Shady politicians will resort to the brown-envelope strategy (bribes for journalists), and sadly sometimes even succeed.

SABC political interference

The biggest media outlet in the country is the public broadcaster (no mandate to be a state broadcaster, nor an ANC broadcaster) but decade after decade the SABC board appears to be a political tug-of-war for whichever ANC faction is in power. Editors-in-chief who fight for editorial independence are fired willy-nilly for spurious reasons (see the 2021/22 case of Phathiswa Magopeni). Sadly, the ANC which still lives in the “National Democratic Revolution” era seems fond of conflations: “our people”, “our SABC”.

Police and court bullying

There has been an increasing number of reports of police attacking journalists at crime scenes, apparently ignorant of what the role of journalists and photographers are. They are allowed at crime scenes, by the way, to interview eyewitnesses, record events outside the cordoned-off area, and to take pictures.

Instead, journalists and photographers get harassed, often their cameras get smashed and their images deleted. There are also increasing incidents of reporters thrown out of magistrates’ courts when they are there to report.

Community harassment

Members of communities perceive journalists not to be on their side and so during service delivery protests they fear the cameras will expose their behaviour (such as burning tyres) and often they stone journalists.

Recently, the chair of the South African National Editors’ Forum’s Media Freedom Committee, Makhudu Sefara, has been receiving more and more reports of journalists at crime scenes being robbed of their equipment and phones. A combination of criminality and being anti-journalist, we could surmise.

Cyberbullying and misogyny

These incidents are increasing, unheard of in 1977, when most newsrooms were filled with men in suits, and ashtrays. Women did the “women’s page” on fashion, beauty, gardening and cooking. Mainly. There were a few women who operated out of this stereotyped space, but nothing like today.

Today, women are almost equals in the newsroom, even though their numbers at editor level are just under half that of their male counterparts, and the gender pay gap exists. Nevertheless, they are at the forefront of political reporting, analysis and investigations.

Read in Daily Maverick: “World Press Freedom Day highlights ‘journalism under digital siege’”

For this, they (including Ferial Haffajee, Qaanitah Hunter, Ziyanda Ngcobo, Sli Masikane, Lindsay Dentlinger, Tshidi Madia, Karyn Maughan, Pauli van Wyk, Marianne Thamm, Julia Madibogo, Carien Du Plessis, among others) have been trolled.

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

The gendered bullying is sexualised – they are body shamed by political parties and their followers. Some trolling includes being called bitch, presstitute (press + prostitute) cow, cunt, witch, Satan, fat, ugly; sent a picture of a gun on SMS; had their faces Photoshopped onto the bodies of dogs and on the laps of “white monopoly capital”; and threatened with rape and murder.

The state and its national security

The Protection of State Information (Secrecy) Bill remains unsigned into law as the President has passed the buck to his constitutional lawyers. He could have just accepted its unconstitutionality. Information rights and media freedom activists and their lawyers have already sent it to lawyers to check for constitutionality and declared that you can’t jail journalists for doing their jobs and uncovering so-called classified information.

Mostly “classified” information tends to be about covering corruption, not real threats of being invaded by a neighbouring country. The public interest is not protected in this bill, but “national security” is overemphasised.

Surveillance in the ‘national interest’

A number of investigative journalists have reported that their phones are being tapped, and some have been followed.

“National security” is often just obfuscation, and a block against journalism. It’s the equivalent of authorities following “due process” over Phala Phala investigations. Lawyers in the Public Protector’s office and the National Prosecution Authority find journalists irritating in the dogged way they keep asking for details. Journalists find processes slow and opaque. 

Read in Daily Maverick: “Ramaphosa gets free pass on Phala Phala forex farm theft as Parliament ‘enters the twilight zone’” 

Meanwhile, speculation grows over Phala Phala and people lose confidence in the country when the basic facts are not available. We have to watch this “national interest” and “classified” space carefully, as the powers that be become insecure and don’t want to be held accountable for corruption and crumbling infrastructure (no lights and water) on their watch, and elections loom. Under pressure, they tend to scapegoat journalists as “enemies of the people”.

Criminalise to intimidate

The private prosecution to criminalise Maughan on spurious charges is a case of media freedom going on trial. Meanwhile, Zuma supporters’ vilification of Maughan on social media is horrific. But she is also hugely supported by democrats who believe in the free flow of information.

The above trends show why we must remember Black Wednesday. While we have more freedom now to write, let’s watch the Maughan space. Around the world journalists “disappear” – Russia, China, Mexico, Zimbabwe, to name a few.

But the attacks on journalists in our country are real and serious, though mainly different from 1977. DM