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inlsa<\/p>\n
Nzimande<\/p>\n
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Piet Rampedi and Babalo Ndenze <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The South African media came under sustained attack yesterday from President Jacob Zuma and SACP leader Blade Nzimande. <\/p>\n
Nzimande \u2013 a confidant of the president \u2013 who is also the minister of higher education and training, said the media actively opposed the ANC-led tripartite alliance and Zuma\u2019s government. <\/p>\n
He said that almost all media houses refused to acknowledge the ANC\u2019s achievements, criticised party leaders unfairly and resisted transformation. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Zuma described statements that the country\u2019s inequality gap was widening as a \u201cfarce\u201d and said South Africans should stop falling for the \u201cpropaganda\u201d and \u201cspin\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cNotions that the gap between the rich and poor in South Africa is widening is a farce. Why now, after 1994, do we say it\u2019s widening?\u201d asked Zuma. <\/p>\n
Addressing traditional leaders, he said the \u201cspin\u201d had increased since 1994. \u201cPeople writing newspapers are educated and they think they\u2019re writing the truth. It\u2019s propaganda and we also repeat it \u2013 nathi<\/em> [us] \u2013 because it is being said by educated people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Nzimande, who was speaking at the SACP\u2019s conference of commissars, reserved his blade for the big three of media organisations \u2013 Avusa, Independent Newspapers (publishers of The Mercury) and Media 24 \u2013 accusing them of reporting that was unfair, unethical and lacking in balance. <\/p>\n He said the state-owned SABC had joined this \u201cposture\u201d of late through SAfm. <\/p>\n The radio station read on air only those SMSes that called ANC leaders \u201chooligans\u201d, Nzimande added. <\/p>\n He dismissed the media as part of an anti-Zuma \u201cliberal offensive\u201d that dishonestly claimed there was a leadership crisis in the country \u2013 which he said was by proxy a call for Zuma\u2019s removal from power. <\/p>\n The SACP boss urged party members to rethink their engagements with the media, including the \u201cso-called Midrand Group\u201d. This is a group of black intellectuals who have been largely critical of Zuma and his government in writing for the opinion pages of newspapers. <\/p>\n \u201cThe SA media have thrown away every pretence at fairness and balance. They are not even following their own press code by the way. I don\u2019t know why the ANC has retreated on the issue of the media appeals tribunal,\u201d Nzimande said. <\/p>\n Mondli Makhanya, the chairman of the SA National Editors Forum, rejected Nzimande\u2019s accusations as baseless. He said they smacked of dictatorial tendencies similar to those of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin. <\/p>\n \u201cThe South African media behave in a manner that any media in a free society will behave, and this is obviously alien to Nzimande. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no conspiracy among newspapers, there is no agenda, there is no onslaught on any politician. We reflect society and its politics as they are,\u201d Makhanya said. <\/p>\n He dismissed Nzimande\u2019s suggestion that it was a mistake for the ANC to retreat from its proposal for a media appeals tribunal. <\/p>\n Makhanya said the industry had introduced \u201cmuch stronger\u201d self-regulatory systems which \u201call the rational people\u201d in the tripartite alliance had accepted as credible and having \u201cstrong teeth\u201d. <\/p>\n Media24\u2019s Esmar\u00e9 Weideman, Independent Newspapers CEO Tony Howard, and Print and Digital Media CEO Ingrid Norman either failed to respond to questions sent or could not be reached for comment yesterday. <\/p>\n SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago rejected Nzimande\u2019s accusation that the public broadcaster had \u201cdeteriorated\u201d, opposed the government and used its SMS lines to tarnish the image of ANC leaders. <\/p>\n \u201cThe SABC supports all its stakeholders, including government, and therefore it is not true that we are opposed to government and other stakeholders,\u201d said Kganyago. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Nzimande said that big media groups were quick to buy successful, small newspapers that were in private hands, to undermine media diversity. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Accusing the media of dishonest debates, he challenged journalists to judge the ruling party on the basis of its promises contained in its election manifesto rather than on \u201cimaginations\u201d. \t8<\/strong>P2 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" inlsa Nzimande Piet Rampedi and Babalo Ndenze The South African media came under sustained attack yesterday from President Jacob Zuma and SACP leader Blade Nzimande. Nzimande \u2013 a confidant of the president \u2013 who is also the minister of higher education and training, said the media actively opposed the ANC-led tripartite alliance and Zuma\u2019s government. 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