There are few creatures more vile than a dirty journalist. Dirty bankers steal from shareholders. Dirty politicians plunder from taxpayers. But what makes dirty journalists even worse is the way they sell their once idealistic souls. At the risk of straying into the self-righteous, it is worth remembering that in a democratic society, journalism can be the most honourable of professions. Its role of championing ordinary folk in the court of public opinion provides one of only two bulwarks (the court of law is the other) which stands between vested interests and those upon whom they would prey. This role, like that of a public prosecutor, endows journalists with considerable power. But with it comes enormous responsibility, charging them to speak truth to power, to shine their searchlights where others want secrecy. By willingly snuffing out such inquiry or, worse, regurgitating messages of the highest bidder, they morph into propagandists, besmirching an honourable profession. There is little more vile than a dirty journalist. – Alec Hogg
By Ed Herbst*
What stokes the unhappiness is the shabby, unprofessional, cowboy type of journalism that makes a person like me, who’s been in the industry since the 1970s, despair. – Moegsien Williams Media acts like the unelected opposition 11/8/2015
Mr Williams has lost all semblance of credibility. – John Steenhuisen Times Live 1/11/2016
The newspaper world in South Africa was rocked on 1 November when, in an historic first, New Age editor Moegsien Williams issued what amounted to a press release punting his employers, the Guptas and their various state capture endeavours.
The Times, recognising the news value of this startling media breakthrough, made this its front page lead under the headline Gupta man blitzes MPs with e-mail – Extraordinary appeal to parliament by The New Age’s Moegsien Williams.
Business Day said that Williams was motivated to take this unprecedented editorial step by evidence which the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) gave to Thuli Madonesela, evidence which seemed to reveal a snouting trail involving almost R7 billion. (‘Report sheds light on irregular Gupta transactions’)
One can understand the dilemma of Williams’ employers given the overnight departure – for ‘health reasons’ of course – of the previous company spokesman, Nazeem Howa. Taking all those telephone calls from Eskom boss Brian Molefe- as the Madonsela report reveals – must have been very taxing.
Howa’s sudden exit was justifiably mourned, of course, by the country’s media practitioners who were still struggling to find closure after the abrupt and emotionally devastating departure of Karima Brown – a fervent admirer of President Jacob Zuma ’s leadership – from Independent Newspapers.
Heart-breaking void
Into this heart breaking void stepped our brave newspaper Horatio.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Moegsien had been preparing for this momentous occasion for months, subtly softening the populace up by calling on other media folk to stop being so biased against the Zupta coup and to be more patriotic.
(As someone who interviewed Eschel Rhoodie for SABC TV news in Pretoria in the late 1970s I can distinctly remember him making a similar call for more patriotic news reporting and for the media to stop acting as an official opposition but, as has been repeatedly shown, anything the Nats could do, the ANC can do better)
Williams didn’t go as far as Citizen editor, Steven Motale, who in a bowing-and-scraping, hand-wringing mea culpa said:
I’ve been party to the sinister agenda against Zuma, and can only apologise for that.
It is clear nevertheless that, with typical valour, Williams wanted to alert the world to the potential danger of this ‘sinister agenda’ and, it must be said, local media have ignored similar warnings from Kebby Maphatsoe – who is also a staunch defender of the Zupta brand – for far too long.
Williams has also lashed out at critics of the Snouting Faction of the ANC and, as his press release indicates, has given short shrift to concerns expressed on Daily Maverick by Stephen Grootes.
And when Thuli Madonsela released her report on Nkandla, Secure in Comfort in March 2014, Williams made his considered views known that evening on the Gupta ANN7 television news channel. He confidently stated that the Public Protector’s report on Nkandla would be ignored by the people in the area – as the recent municipal election result indicates …
Williams, it must be said, is more adaptable than a chameleon caught in the harsh glare of a multi-coloured nightclub strobe light.
As I pointed out in my ‘Media Manipulators’ article on this website three months ago, Williams initially did not hold Number One in high regard as American author Douglas Foster reveals:
Like most of his colleagues, Williams was unashamedly pro-ANC and an ardent Pro-Mbeki partisan. He considered AIDS and Zimbabwe “blind spots” of the president’s in an otherwise admirable record. Jacob Zuma, on the other hand, he thought of as a throwback and an embarrassment.
Thereafter Williams experienced a Damascene conversation as his expressed willingness to edify parliamentarians this week indicates.
Exquisite timing
The timing of the Williams press release was exquisite.
Its contents became known to the public on the same day that Zuma withdrew his state capture report interdict, the presiding judges ordered the release of the Madonsela report and tens of thousands of people around the country attended rallies to express their concern about the conduct of the Zuptas.
Rushing to stick his finger into the dyke was Jimmy Manyi whose counsel to the Cape Flats community doomed the ANC (in its present form) to political servitude in the Western Cape.
But Williams can draw comfort from the fact that he has some fervent supporters, not least Dr Iqbal Survé, owner of the Independent Newspaper company who must be reading the current allegations of Zupta money laundering with considerable interest.
Dr Survé chooses his business partners with considerable care, first Brett Kebble and, more recently, he hoped to go into a partnership with the Guptas to create a pro-ANC news empire, in part because of his trust in Williams:
“To this end Mr Williams arranged a meeting between Mr Howa (Nazeem) and me to discuss the collaboration. I thought it was a good idea since Mr Howa and Mr Williams had a strong background in media and it would be positive for them to assist me with the strategy and operations at IM.”
Williams, along with Cape Times editor, Aneez Salie and Jimi Matthews got his reporting start in Cape Town.
Unlike their predecessors, people like Tony Heard, I cannot with any conviction, assert that they have enhanced the reputation of the profession.
- Ed Herbst is a retired veteran journalist who writes in his own capacity.
