DA ban on journalist 'hypocrisy'

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sox63

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The SA National Editors' Forum and the parliamentary Press Gallery Association have accused the DA of hypocrisy and of applying double standards.

The party has blacklisted reporter Anna Majavu on the grounds that she was serving a political agenda, based on her past employment by the SA Municipal Workers' Union.

The fury intensified when DA executive director of communications Ross van der Linde told Sowetan that Majavu "is not a journalist" but "a former [Municipal Workers' Union] spin doctor who has a particular political agenda".

Editors' forum chairman Mondli Makhanya labelled the DA's decision "preposterous" and called on the opposition party to immediately lift the blacklisting.

"The move by the DA against Majavu flies in the face of the DA's founding liberal values, including commitment to press freedom.

"The action is also incongruous with the DA's stated support for media freedom, as shown by its vocal opposition to the proposed Draconian statutory media appeals tribunal and attempts to stem the free flow of information through the Protection of Information Bill," said Makhanya.

Press Gallery Association chairman Caiphus Kgosana warned that the DA's "ill-conceived and ill-advised" decision to blacklist journalists with whom it disagreed set a dangerous precedent.

He accused Van der Linde of being disingenuous and suggested that he "deliberately fails to see the danger in this statement".

"What he and his party mean is that Majavu will be allowed to receive statements from the [DA] only if she agrees with its policies or writes sweetheart stories about it.

"If the same theory is applied by other political parties, the DA might have begun an unfortunate process whereby political parties start sifting through the CVs of professional journalists to isolate and ban those who disagree with their views and policies," Kgosana said.
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It seems politicians and journalists just dont get along...

I swear, the bit I bolded would be words that Floyd would be proud of.
 
I just listened to a interview with the DA spokes person. She made it very clear that this particular journalist was not blacklisted by them. The merely removed her from their volentary database that is used for external communications to journalists. The reason for this is that this particular journalist is known to skew the facts to make the DA reflect in a bad light and therefore was guilty of repeated inaccurate reporting.

The DA have taken this up with her personally, The Sowetan and the Ombudsman....whom actually ruled in the DA's favour (I hope I heard that correctly)

This journalist also apparently comes from a stong ANC favouring background and this the DA said might be relevant, but is by no means the basis for why they removed her from the voluntary database.

That was the interview in a nutshell I think.
 
ocleroux said:
I just listened to a interview with the DA spokes person. She made it very clear that this particular journalist was not blacklisted by them. The merely removed her from their volentary database that is used for external communications to journalists. The reason for this is that this particular journalist is known to skew the facts to make the DA reflect in a bad light and therefore was guilty of repeated inaccurate reporting.

The DA have taken this up with her personally, The Sowetan and the Ombudsman....whom actually ruled in the DA's favour (I hope I heard that correctly)

This journalist also apparently comes from a stong ANC favouring background and this the DA said might be relevant, but is by no means the basis for why they removed her from the voluntary database.

That was the interview in a nutshell I think.
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lol, another storm in a teacup over the DA...
 
HAH! So, all you DA fanboys, what have you got to say abou...

ocleroux said:
I just listened to a interview with the DA spokes person. She made it very clear that this particular journalist was not blacklisted by them. The merely removed her from their volentary database that is used for external communications to journalists. The reason for this is that this particular journalist is known to skew the facts to make the DA reflect in a bad light and therefore was guilty of repeated inaccurate reporting.

The DA have taken this up with her personally, The Sowetan and the Ombudsman....whom actually ruled in the DA's favour (I hope I heard that correctly)

This journalist also apparently comes from a stong ANC favouring background and this the DA said might be relevant, but is by no means the basis for why they removed her from the voluntary database.

That was the interview in a nutshell I think.
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...doh!
 
If the ANC supporters reacted in the same way to the ANC as they do to the DA, this country would be a very stable democracy.
 
ocleroux said:
Why is my comment doh? :confused: Did I get the facts wrong?
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No OC mate, you misunderstood! I was impersonating the typical anti-DAer who loves the extremely rare opportunity to get on his high horse and bleat but is then inevitably stumped by the real story (what you wrote) of what happened. :)
 
ocleroux said:
I just listened to a interview with the DA spokes person. She made it very clear that this particular journalist was not blacklisted by them. The merely removed her from their volentary database that is used for external communications to journalists. The reason for this is that this particular journalist is known to skew the facts to make the DA reflect in a bad light and therefore was guilty of repeated inaccurate reporting.

The DA have taken this up with her personally, The Sowetan and the Ombudsman....whom actually ruled in the DA's favour (I hope I heard that correctly)

This journalist also apparently comes from a stong ANC favouring background and this the DA said might be relevant, but is by no means the basis for why they removed her from the voluntary database.

That was the interview in a nutshell I think.
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So you feel it would be OK if a journalist was removed from the ANC database used for communications because they write in such a way as to portray the ANC in a bad light? You think there wouldn't be an outcry by the DA?
 
joelus said:
So you feel it would be OK if a journalist was removed from the ANC database used for communications because they write in such a way as to portray the ANC in a bad light?
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Sure, why not?

lol, but then the ANC wouldn't have anyone in their database, because there's never anything good to report on them. ;)
 
All politicians are the same, the only difference is the scope of their power.
 
joelus said:
So you feel it would be OK if a journalist was removed from the ANC database used for communications because they write in such a way as to portray the ANC in a bad light? You think there wouldn't be an outcry by the DA?
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There is a difference between writing about a party in a negative light and being actively out to write about them in a negative light. Learn it.
 
joelus said:
So you feel it would be OK if a journalist was removed from the ANC database used for communications because they write in such a way as to portray the ANC in a bad light? You think there wouldn't be an outcry by the DA?
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Especially if the Press Ombudsman (which the ANC claims is ineffective) finds that journalist is bias and reports inaccurately then I'd have no problem with the ANC removing them. Just remember the DA didn't unilaterally find the reporter guilty.
 
marine1 said:
I am a DA supporter but this is not on, keep sending the stuff to her and let her make a fool of herself.
DA has to take the moral highground
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Actually this is a very good thing. It goes a long way to prove the Ombudsman isn't as useless as the ANC would have us believe.
 
Forget blacklisting, just remember when Julias kicked the the BBC journalist out of the revolutionary house, to me that was more concerning.
 
The anc is crying a lot lately. Elections are always a fearful time for the corrupt. Wonder how many old ladies and other weaker people, will be intimidated or conned into voting for the anc this time...
 
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