Spotlight on racism in S.African media

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, FEB. 22. The issue of racism in the South African media is once again in the limelight. The Human Rights Commission (HRC) had subpoenaed several editors of newspapers and the electronic media, as well as individual columnists, to appear before it next month to answer questions concerning the issue of racism in the media, specifically with reference to the policies and guidelines followed by the recipients ``on the reporting of, and commenting on, national and international events which impact on racism and possible incidents of racism''. (The Daily Mail and Guardian website on Tuesday reported that the HRC had agreed to a conditional withdrawal of media subpoenas).

The subpoena also required the recipients to produce, on their appearance, the following ``books and documents'': ``(a) Policies, guidelines, minutes, and resolutions of meetings, directives from owners of your media product - which relate to the handling of matters concerning racism and possible incidents of racism. (b) Any other documents in your possession or custody or under your control that are necessary in connection with the said investigation''. The passage cited, which seems to be a standard pro forma passage, is from the subpoena received by the editor of Business Day, a financial daily published from Johannesburg. The grounds cited also seem typical. The subpoena in this case referred to three specific reports and comments that had appeared in the paper on three different days in July last year, cited in a report prepared by the Media Monitoring Project released in November last year. The subpoena, citing the researcher who prepared the HRC commissioned report, said the passages from the newspaper's reports stereotyped, depersonalised, or criminalised blacks as a people.

This is the latest act in a drama that has been going on for a while. The HRC began its investigation into the issue of racism in South African media about two years ago, following a complaint by two professional organisations, the Association of Black Accounts and the Black Lawyers' Association, accusing two leading Johannesburg-published weekly newspapers, Sunday Times and Daily Mail and Guardian of (among other things) ``subliminal racism''. The HRC decided, after holding hearings into these complaints, that the issue of racism was not limited to these two newspapers alone, but affected the media as a whole, and decided to hold a broader inquiry. The HRC initiated this broader inquiry into ``the handling of race and possible incidence of racism in the products of the media'' on its own, as it is constitutionally mandated and empowered to do. The sweep of its mandate, as much as the actual conduct of the inquiry, appear to have angered the still predominantly white-controlled print media.

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Section  : International
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