ANC asks e.tv to do the honourable thing

Garyvdh said:
You guys know nothing about journalistic sources and freedom of the press.
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Notwithstanding the proclaimation of the rights in the Constitution, the
structure and rationale of our Constitution is such that the extent of every right is subject to possible limitations.
 
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Garyvdh said:
You guys know nothing about journalistic sources and freedom of the press.

as already said, stopping crime is not e.tv's business, it is the responsibility of the police and the govt.

If e.tv gives up these names, then they will have lost all credibility with the public and the next time an opportunity presents itself to interview a potential criminal, the criminal won't talk to e.tv because he can't trust them. so he goes unreported and free to do his crime and nobody gets to hear about it.

Please do a little bit of reading on freedom of the press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press
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I didn't know that this was a discussion about freedom of the press. The issue, as I understand it, is about some sloppy journalism being defended with a 'sources' arguement.

Even journalists are in dsagreement about etv's behaviour. David O'Sullivan said that etv are wrong and pointed out that Said should realise that he is a human being first and a journalist second.

Being a journalist doesn't make them right. It also doesn't mean that I have to blindly say it's freedom of the press so publish and be damned! etv, in my opinion, have messed up.

And to the sudden dearth of sources if etv do shop them. Funny how 702 and that lot still have sources even though they run the crimeline.
 
seems to me like people here and the government are embarrassed that there is crime in their country or don't want to admit that it is true.

Well done to e.tv for being realists and for highlighting a possible threat to people's wellbeing. If it saves one tourist's life it will have been worth it.
 
killadoob said:
Why do people not grasp that e-tv is not responsible for removing and catching criminals. Just like any news channel they cannot go arresting people because it would hurt them and e-tv is a business you do not hurt your business.

Now if the ANC did something about the crime e-tv would not be able to report such things would they?
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I believe E-TV is a responsible business and therefore will not sacrifce it's audiance at the altar of criminals. If they know about criminals and the police want their identities in order to arrest them, they should oblige.
 
Garyvdh said:
seems to me like people here and the government are embarrassed that there is crime in their country or don't want to admit that it is true.

Well done to e.tv for being realists and for highlighting a possible threat to people's wellbeing. If it saves one tourist's life it will have been worth it.
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Everyone knows there is plenty of crime in this country. I don't think anyone except denialists would be embarrassed by that.

The fact of the matter is that E-TV is hiding criminals that are known to them.
 
Garyvdh said:
You guys know nothing about journalistic sources and freedom of the press.

as already said, stopping crime is not e.tv's business, it is the responsibility of the police and the govt.

If e.tv gives up these names, then they will have lost all credibility with the public and the next time an opportunity presents itself to interview a potential criminal, the criminal won't talk to e.tv because he can't trust them. so he goes unreported and free to do his crime and nobody gets to hear about it.

Please do a little bit of reading on freedom of the press.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press
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Your argument is that journalists will loose credibility if they give up criminals, hmm....

There's just something wrong with that, dude. The fact is that ANC etc have not been able to find these criminals but a third party (etv) has, so the criminals should be free because another group other then cops found them?

So if some one came to me and said, 'hey I'm going to go rob a bank', It's OK for me not to do anything to prevent it?
 
Ronjay said:
Your argument is that journalists will loose credibility if they give up criminals, hmm....

There's just something wrong with that, dude. The fact is that ANC etc have not been able to find these criminals but a third party (etv) has, so the criminals should be free because another group other then cops found them?

So if some one came to me and said, 'hey I'm going to go rob a bank', It's OK for me not to do anything to prevent it?
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you FAIL by your own argument. e.tv did something about it. They highlighted it as is their business to do. These criminals had not yet committed any crime that e.tv was aware of, only a threat to do so. it is now the duty of the police to act on the matter. If they are too inept to actually catch any criminals then perhaps we should get rid of the current bunch of fat cats in government and actually elect somebody who is serious about doing the job and knows how to do it. ANC epic fail.
 
If only criminals played by the rules, they dont, no political party can solve what is currently happening, IFP, DA, ANC, whoever, crime will still run rampant because of the poverty which still exists.

Flouting this on TV will only make things worse.
 
JungleBoy said:
Everyone knows there is plenty of crime in this country. I don't think anyone except denialists would be embarrassed by that.

The fact of the matter is that E-TV is hiding criminals that are known to them.
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So they give these ones up to the police, but in so doing sacrifice any hope of every doing another story about possible crime? Basically give up their livelihood of reporting? I don't think so. Be realistic.
 
Garyvdh said:
you FAIL by your own argument. e.tv did something about it. They highlighted it as is their business to do. These criminals had not yet committed any crime that e.tv was aware of, only a threat to do so. it is now the duty of the police to act on the matter. If they are too inept to actually catch any criminals then perhaps we should get rid of the current bunch of fat cats in government and actually elect somebody who is serious about doing the job and knows how to do it. ANC epic fail.
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hold on, isn't it illegal to know about a crime that will be committed without taking action? Despite the media's act on being neutral.
 
Garyvdh said:
seems to me like people here and the government are embarrassed that there is crime in their country or don't want to admit that it is true.

Well done to e.tv for being realists and for highlighting a possible threat to people's wellbeing. If it saves one tourist's life it will have been worth it.
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We are not embarrassed at all, and we do know all to well that SA has an excessive crime problem. But one would think that as such every opportunity to reduce the crime problem would be jumped at. As a responsible organization that calls for the ANC to reduce crime etv should aid in this.
 
Morgoth said:
hold on, isn't it illegal to know about a crime that will be committed without taking action? Despite the media's act on being neutral.
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they did take action, they published a story about it. Freedom of the press says they do not have to do anything else.

16. Freedom of expression

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes *
1. freedom of the press and other media;
2. freedom to receive or impart information or ideas;
3. freedom of artistic creativity; and
4. academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.
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Ronjay said:
We are not embarrassed at all, and we do know all to well that SA has an excessive crime problem. But one would think that as such every opportunity to reduce the crime problem would be jumped at. As a responsible organization that calls for the ANC to reduce crime etv should aid in this.
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They are. They are highlighting the problem so that the police can do something about it. The only problem is that our ostriches in government don't want to admit the severity of the problem and don't know how to deal with it. They cannot guarantee the safety of tourists visiting this country and they don't want anybody pointing that out to the world. It's bad PR for them. So they are taking it out on e.tv making them look like the bad guys.

The first duty of the state is the protection of its citizens - Plato.
 
Ronjay said:
So if a terrorist goes to etv and tells them that he is going to blow up one of the stadiums during the WC and kill 50000 + people etv should not give up ther source to the cops?
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It is their prerogative to do so or not. But in that case I think they would probably call the police and give them whatever info, but that example is different to what happened here. That specifies a time and a place. The statements made by the criminals on e.tv the other night were too vague to be of any immediate use to the police.

I strongly suspect that it would be very difficult to prove any incitement in a court of law based on such statements. The judge would ask when and where and finding no such information would throw the matter out of court and leave it in the police hands to follow up... as it should be.
 
You do realise that there was another instance of this that happened yesterday... but nobody has said anything about it???

http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article268027.ece

Angry residents of Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, protested at the Soshanguve Magistrate's Court today ahead of the appearance of five people arrested for the murder of 10-year-old Masego Kgomo.

"The court must release them, we want to deal with them. There is no death penalty. We therefore want to kill them because there is no better sentence for them except death," said protester Mpho Masemola, holding an ANC Youth League banner.
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I don't hear the ANC asking the Times newspaper for the info on these people? Even though they are threatening to break the law and murder someone? Clearly a case of incitement to violence, but the ANC does nothing about it because these are members of the youth league.

Double standards? Have these people been arrested?
 
Garyvdh said:
It is their prerogative to do so or not. But in that case I think they would probably call the police and give them whatever info, but that example is different to what happened here. That specifies a time and a place. The statements made by the criminals on e.tv the other night were too vague to be of any immediate use to the police.

I strongly suspect that it would be very difficult to prove any incitement in a court of law based on such statements. The judge would ask when and where and finding no such information would throw the matter out of court and leave it in the police hands to follow up... as it should be.
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I don't see a difference. These criminals say that during the WC they will do something to tourists. My made up terrorist says he will do something to tourists. The only difference is the scale.
 
Surv0 said:
If only criminals played by the rules, they dont, no political party can solve what is currently happening, IFP, DA, ANC, whoever, crime will still run rampant because of the poverty which still exists.

Flouting this on TV will only make things worse.
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Surv i do not believe that for one second, if murderers rapists etc got handed long sentences, no bail etc crime would drop. Death penalty would be another good one.

If the ANC took a hard line and sorted out the justice system crime would drop, if the anc kept their promises of jobs and upliftment of the poor there would be less crime.

If the ANC did not allow 3-6 million zims to walk across in our country there would be more jobs for the poor, there is a lot they could do to and alleviate the problem but they do nothing and let criminals run SA.

E-tv are not in the business of criminal catching, they are in the news reporting business.
 
killadoob said:
Why do people not grasp that e-tv is not responsible for removing and catching criminals. Just like any news channel they cannot go arresting people because it would hurt them and e-tv is a business you do not hurt your business.

Now if the ANC did something about the crime e-tv would not be able to report such things would they?
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Agree that they cant arrest them, but if you are aware of the whereabouts of a known criminal or you are aware that a crime is about to take place or is being planned, dont you have an obligation, if not a legal one, then a moral one, to report this to the cops ?

The fact that the cops are useless is besides the point. Journalists are not above the law, morality, or are they ? How can they hold themselves up to be the defenders of ethic's, morality etc., if they are not bound by the same ?
 
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