It pains me as a former newspaperman to see how reporters nowadays allow them to be used to fight politicians' dirty power battles for them by spreading innuendo and rumour about opponents.

Ironically, this reliance on the media mostly comes from the ruling ANC, a party whose commitment to free speech is at best suspect - some of its top leaders have called the media the enemy of democracy and of the people.

Like many other African liberation movements, perpetual power struggles and faction fighting seem to be part of the ANC's DNA. During the 1970s and 1980s, while they were in exile, this phenomenon at times almost paralysed them. Only the extraordinary peacemaking of Oliver Tambo stopped the movement from fracturing.

Old habits die hard. The conspiracies and intrigue really took off again during Thabo Mbeki's leadership with rumours planted in newspapers about drug dealing, assassination attempts, dirty deals and private scandals.

The chaotic change of the guard at Polokwane in December 2007 and the sacking of Mbeki as the country's president brought a hiatus of a few months, but then the power struggles resumed with renewed intensity. And with that, the planting of negative stories and gossip about the different factions in newspapers.

When it first became clear that Kgalema Motlanthe was going to challenge Jacob Zuma's leadership, a story was planted in the newspapers about the "corrupt" ways his partner was doing business. It was even the front page lead in a Sunday paper. It turned out to be completely false.

As one of the main and most fearless investigators of corruption and tenderpreneurship, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has many enemies, many of them inside the ANC. These elements have been running a campaign to undermine her credibility and integrity by leaking all kinds of information to newspapers - and some newspapers seem to be too happy to splash these (so far) unfounded and often trivial accusations and gossip on their front pages, hoping some of the dirt will stick.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is in a similar position right now. He has been bravely critical of government and ANC corruption and mismanagement and, unlike some of his colleagues, is not a Zuma sycophant.

There has clearly been a decision to get rid of Vavi. He has been on the receiving end of endless rumours, gossip and nameless allegations for months now and some newspapers have eagerly played a role in disseminating them. Some of the stories, like the one about his stepdaughter who got a lowly job at a Cosatu-aligned entity, are completely ridiculous.

The theory is that if you repeat these allegations often enough, people will start thinking that where there's enough smoke, there must be a fire. In Vavi's case, it's beginning to work.

Cyril Ramaphosa was plucked from the business world to rescue the Zuma camp at last year's ANC elective conference at Mangaung and made the party's deputy president.

Now it seems as if the heavies around Zuma merely wanted to use him for Mangaung and for next year's general election, after which they want to ditch him and bring in Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to eventually replace her ex-husband and so keep the centre of gravity in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

We should prepare ourselves for a similar onslaught against Ramaphosa as we're seeing against Madonsela and Vavi: innuendo, gossip, nameless allegations. And I expect some newspapers will again be the willing tools in the hands of the manipulators.

Sometimes, of course, newspapers should not ignore the tidbits brought to them by politicians wanting to discredit their opponents: when the allegations are true and substantiated. This is often the only way to expose political wrongdoing and corruption.

The negative stories around Communications minister Dina Pule were clearly planted to pave the way for her exit from cabinet. But at least some of these stories appear to be substantially true and verified.

Journalists should be very, very aware of the dangers of being used in this way by politicians. At a time of much smoke and mirrors, the media have a serious responsibility to help the public see through the fog of misinformation and understand the real dynamics of our political life.

Sometimes it is necessary for the public to know what rumours are being spread about whom. Front-page lead stories with screaming headlines are really not the way to do this. Providing context is essential.

The media have served the citizens badly with their analysis of events like Marikana and De Doorns. They didn't give us the backstories on these crises. Instead they simply repeated the short-cut version that these signaled the start of our own Arab Spring.

It is time for editors and senior journalists to reflect on the impact they have on our national discourse and to use their freedom and power more responsibly.

Max du Preez is a veteran journalist, author and columnist.

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in the Cape Times and Natal Mercury.

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