Re: Corrections of misrepresentations and plan of action
The R2K EVENT
The Movement for Transformation of the Media in South Africa (MTMSA) held a successful event outside the INL offices in Cape Town yesterday. Both on online and traditional media platforms there has been a lot of misinformation and untruths have been propagated by the R2K campaign, their supports and by journalists, which are doing the rounds.
Today we are dispelling those myths and legends drafted by mostly white antagonists who want to drown out the issue of transformation in the media by making this about politics or so called "Press Freedom". The truth is; Can one have true press freedom if the owners and gate keepers like management staff and editors are all white? Why does R2K picket outside a black owned media house when a white owned media house like Times Media has fired 5 black editors in the past years? Where were their pickets then?
R2K's demonstration proved one point yesterday and that is, that 95% of their supporters who turned up to protest, that were numbered less than 50, were white. We can show you the pictures and you can judge for yourself. MTMSA and R2K should be allies - if we take the basic ideology of press freedom, but we have a fundamental difference in the fact that their definition of press freedom is about defending white privilege and dominance.
Some of the myths and lies propagated about MTMSA include that we are somehow linked to Dr Surve or INL or that we are funded by them. These are lies, fallacies and propaganda by those who are against the transformation agenda, particularly the ‘right2know campaign' and their allied journalists.
MTMSA without fear and favour and will go after any media house, black or white, who refuses to transform in terms of racially motivated procurement parity of goods and services, salary parity, BBEEE compliance, Enterprise Development, CSI etc.
To that end we are writing to every media house today asking them to respond to the following:
Procurement parity
What is the percentage of direct procurement of goods and services from black business by the media house versus white businesses? What are their plans regarding remedying disparities with a timeframe?
Racial Salary parity
What are the statistics and disparities between salary scales of similar level staff that are from different ethnic backgrounds? What are their plans regarding remedying disparities with a timeframe?
Employment equity plan
What does their employment equity plan look like, what is their stats per title and division, with an emphasis on performance appraisals of black staff and talent management to fast track black talent for management within the group?
BBEEE status
Please inform us as to your BBEEE status and track record for the past 5-10 years.
Enterprise development
The new BBEEE codes demand a high spend on enterprise development for black SMME's. What is their current and projected budget for Enterprise development and have they identified black SMME beneficiaries who will participate in your enterprise development program.
CSI
We would like to see their contributions and spend on CSI as a business and what their actual spend is when placed up against their targets and what proportion your CSI spend is of your business expenditure versus your profit margins.
Editorial balancing of reporting
Across all the titles in various groups as MTMSA we feel that there has been unbalanced and heavy handed reporting with a skewed political and racial perspective. The news and editorial teams in South Africa has not been free and fair in many cases. We understand that this is a subjective opinion it does reflect the mood of the people who buy papers and consume media products in the country.
Many publications are seen as having a pro- liberal and pro-white agenda, and we want to know what each media house is going to do to remedy this and bring about fair and balanced reporting and editing. This process is a difficult one as it is not easily measurable but there are key indicators and trends that we have picked up which show that news coverage has definitely been slanted and skewed against black politicians and businessmen whilst completely playing down similar and worse infractions by their white counterparts.
In Conclusion
We have formally requested meetings with the management of each media house in January, which will afford them the time to gather the information requested. We are serious about transformation and as we have had a history as individual organisations of taking on entire industries we realise we are opening ourselves up to attack by going after the media itself and asking for transformation on a radical basis.
The question that is being asked is who are we as the MTMSA? The answer is that we are concerned citizens from all walks of life, from NGO's, the religious sector, unions etc and we are tired of the slow pace of transformation in critical sectors of society. We accept that we will be portrayed as villains, our names dragged through the mud with lies and fallacies about us perpetrated by those who are against transformation. We are willing to face up to that, but we are also willing to fight back and hit where it hurts the most, in the pockets of those who control the media.
Black consumers have a right to know who is undermining black leadership both in politics and in business and they have a right to know which publications still spent most of the procurement on white companies. As citizens we have a right to take up the cause of transformation and if we stand together we can make a difference in terms of economic liberation and transformation of the media in our lifetime, so that our children grow up in a truly free and fair society that reflects their views as well.
Statement issued by the Movement for Transformation of the Media in South Africa (MTMSA), December 19 2013
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