Journalists sue Independent Media over ‘exposé’ on ‘dirty tricks’
24 November 2014
A prominent political commentator and three veteran journalists – including a former editor of the Cape Times and Cape Argus – are suing Independent Media over an “exposé” that claimed that they were involved in a campaign of collusion and sabotage against the newspaper group and its chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé.
Rhoda Kadalie – along with Terry Bell, Ed Herbst and Chris Whitfield – have commenced proceedings against the company and the editors of six of its daily titles after an article headlined “Exposé: The dirty tricks campaign against Independent” was published in the Cape Times, the Cape Argus, the Star, the Pretoria News, the Mercury and the Daily News on 24 August this year.
In their summons, which was issued in the Western Cape Division yesterday [Wednesday 23 November], the plaintiffs are claiming that they were each defamed by being termed “propaganda journalists” of a “particular generation” who had conducted “spiteful attacks” against Survé and were running a campaign of “collusion, misinformation, defamation and sabotage” against Independent Media and its chairman.
The article claimed that there was a conspiracy among various journalists who regularly “raised skeletons” concerning Survé “as though there was a strict allocation of who writes what and when”.
According to the article, these journalists – the majority of whom were alleged to be white – were “virulently anti a democratically-elected government”. Kadalie, on the other hand, was described as “a joiner of the ‘white boys’ club”.
Whitfield – a former editor of the Weekend Argus, Cape Times and the Cape Argus, and who until 2014 was the editor-in-chief of Independent Newspapers Cape – says:
“While I am a firm believer in free speech it seems to me that the article in question amounted to a perversion of the media’s power and cannot go uncontested. I believe it is important to draw a line against such abuse."
His comments are echoed by Bell, a long-time former columnist for Business Report (also an Independent Media publication), who says:
“In my view, this claimed ‘exposé’ not only defamed me and others, it also brought journalism into disrepute. And it is only through the courts that we may not only gain some redress, but may also discover how such a travesty came to be produced and published. This would hopefully ensure that such an apparent abuse of the media will not happen again.”
Kadalie, for decades a leading human rights campaigner, says:
“The article attacks the integrity of editors and columnists to a degree which is unprecedented in my experience. In describing me as a member of the ‘white boys club’ it descends to a level of unseemly racial vulgarity and ethnic stereotyping which should have no place in South African journalism. This unethical abuse of media influence cannot be in the public interest.”
The court action comes after Gill Moodie, another journalist who was mentioned in the piece, took her complaint to the Press Ombudsman in August this year. Moodie, who had her complaint upheld in a ruling handed down on 28 September, said in her statement to the Ombud:
“My integrity, professionalism and independence are at the heart of my career and these sweeping and defamatory statements are unjustified, malicious and extremely damaging,
“The views presented are clearly inspired by malice, cannot be an honestly held opinion and, even if they were, are not presented in a manner that it ‘appears clearly to be comment’.
“[This] piece of work is a disgrace to our profession and breaches the code so flagrantly that I find it difficult to believe it was authored by professional journalists. I believe the breaches are severe enough to be considered a Tier Three: Serious Offence and to attract the full sanction that the Code provides for such a level of offence.”
The Ombud – having found that the article was in breach of the sections of the Code of Ethics and Conduct that required the media to “take care to report news truthfully, accurately and fairly”, “seek the views of the subject of critical reportage in advance of publication” and “exercise care and consideration in matters involving … reputation” – ordered Independent Media to publish an apology in a prescribed and approved form.1 The newspaper group has since been granted leave to appeal against the severity of the sanction (but not the merits of the finding).2
Herbst – who spent nearly three decades working as a television news reporter for the SABC – says it is significant that the Ombud had already upheld the complaint and had ordered all the Independent Media titles that had carried the article to apologise.
Each of the plaintiffs is claiming R500 000 in damages from the 13 defendants, including those who have been identified as members of the “Journalism Intern Investigative Unit” (ostensibly the author of the piece, which did not carry individual by-lines).
Kara van de Pol of Bowmans, the attorneys representing the journalists, says the summons was served on Independent Media this morning [Thursday 24 November], as well as on those editors and reporters who are based at Newspaper House in St George’s Mall, Cape Town. Papers will shortly be served on the other defendants.
“We are confident that our clients have an exceptionally strong case as none of the potential defences to defamation have any application in this matter,” she says.
Rhoda Kadalie
Terry Bell
Ed Herbst
Chris Whitfield
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