The report highlights a major shortcoming in Swazi journalism: reporters don’t bother to give facts to support their stories.
The report headlined ‘Church Linked To Foetuses’ is worth looking at in its entirety.
It reads,
‘Speculation is rife among Logoba residents that a certain church is linked to the foetuses that were recently found dumped at a swamp.
‘A resident who preferred to remain anonymous said many girls had been flocking to the church in the afternoon hours, purportedly for counselling. “The church accommodates junior pastors in its premises, who stay there for the whole day hence the frequent visits by the girls. Some of the girls claim to be members of the church choir, and visit the church till the evening hours.
‘“We suspect it is during such visits that the girls engage in sexual activities with the pastors,” he remarked. The Swazi Observer visited the church yesterday, but found it deserted.
‘Suspicious residents said the pastors vanished after the discovery of the foetuses, two weeks ago.’
It is hard to find a single fact in the whole story. To begin with the church is not named and the resident who gives the newspaper the information is anonymous.
The headline ‘Church Linked To Foetuses’ is incorrect because nowhere in the story is the link made. We are told that some unnamed person is suspicious that girls may be having sex at the church, but that is a long way from proving that girls had sex, then became pregnant and later had abortions.
The first paragraph begins, ‘Speculation is rife...’ But even this is not supported by evidence. All we are given is one unnamed person’s speculation. The reporter didn’t manage to get even one other person to share the anonymous source’s ‘speculation’.
The unnamed resident then says that girls had been flocking to the church for counselling and / or choir practice. On the face of it they seem perfectly reasonable reasons for visiting the church. What proof does the reporter offer that they weren’t at choir practice or receiving counselling?
The resident says ‘We suspect it is during such visits that the girls engage in sexual activity.’ Again, not a shred of evidence is given to support this assertion. Why didn’t the reporter make the effort to find the girls and talk to them? The reporter made a visit to the church and found it closed but then seems to have made no further effort to put the accusations to the church or the pastors.
The Swazi Observer has told its readers that the pastors at the church are guilty but it hasn’t given one piece of evidence to prove this.
The Observer has stopped being a newspaper that reports on facts; instead it has become the carrier of gossip. Maybe some people in Logaba are saying the church is involved in the abortions, but the newspaper hasn’t proved a thing. It is no more trustworthy than the gossipy people you find in bars or coffee shops who like to say bad things about their neighbours.
Article one of the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) Code of Conduct states that the duty of every journalist is to write and report, adhere to and faithfully defend the truth. It goes on to state that a journalist should make adequate inquiries and do cross checking of facts in order to provide the public with unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive information.
Getting things right is important because readers must feel that they can trust their newspapers (or other news media). The main way they do this by having confidence that the reports and articles in the newspapers are accurate. Large numbers of people read and trust newspapers. The SNAJ Code of Conduct recognises that journalists have a duty not to mislead the public.
The Swazi Observer has failed the SNAJ test. The newspaper did not made adequate inquiries, do cross checking of the facts and it most certainly did not give the public accurate, balanced and comprehensive information.
This is not journalism. It is fiction.
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