ETHICAL JOURNALISM IS VITAL

This blog is mostly about the ethical standards of journalism in Swaziland.

It is necessary to have a blog like this because media academics and commentators both in Swaziland and in Africa generally have identified many shortcomings in journalism. In Swaziland senior media practitioners identify the kingdom’s media as partisan, inaccurate and generally unprofessional.

A workshop of civic society stakeholders held in September 2005, which attempted to measure the performance of the media in Swaziland reported that news media lacked credibility and many people saw journalists as lacking in education and experience.

In Africa more generally newspapers have been described as very unprofessional, highly biased, and sensational with exaggerated reports published out of context. This situation has driven one senior media academic to conclude that the independent press in Africa has apparently thrown all ethical norms overboard. Therefore, codes of ethics are necessary so that journalists can stay on the right track.

Swaziland is not unique in Africa in having a code of ethics, nor do the clauses that make up the code differ much from those in existence elsewhere in Africa. Most codes cover truthfulness, fairness, impartiality, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, invasion of privacy, trauma, stereotyping and social responsibility.

Leading the campaign to improve ethical standards of journalism is the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ), which has a membership of 150 of the estimated 200 journalists working in the kingdom.

In 2002, SNAJ developed and approved a code of conduct to try to ensure professional standards were maintained by all journalists practicing in the country.

The code was updated in 2005 to include clauses on the coverage of HIV/AIDS and gender issues. However, no organisation has been created to ensure the code of ethics is adhered to, so SNAJ currently relies on willing editors in newsrooms to sensitise journalists about the code. SNAJ has also embarked on an awareness campaign to educate its members about the code.

The code is meant to ensure that members adhere to the highest ethical standards, professional competence and good behaviour in carrying out their duties. Its overriding concern is that members of the media should conduct themselves with a high sense of responsibility without infringing the rights of individuals and society in general.

There are eight articles of the code which concern themselves with the personal responsibility of the journalist and these cover such matters as conflict of interest (do not accept bribes), plagiarism; protecting confidential sources; under no circumstances suppressing news (unless it borders on issues of national security); allowing a fair opportunity for organizations or individuals to respond to issues raised in publications; using ethical means to secure information and photographs; respecting embargoes and encouraging journalists to advise a survivor of a sexual offence to go for counselling.

The remaining nine articles cover areas including the public’s right to information (which is unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive); respect for privacy; respect for national and ethnic values (not originating material which encourages discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, colour, creed, gender or sexual orientation); publishing corrections to inaccurate or misleading reports; separating comment from fact; avoiding the publication of speech that might promote hatred; avoiding the identification of survivors of sexual assault; protecting the rights of minors; exercising tact and sensitivity when dealing with people in grief.; avoiding misleading and sensational headlines and the reporting of people with HIV and AIDS.

In Swaziland there is not yet one single body that exists to enforce the code and each media house has developed its own professional standards. For instance, the Times of Swaziland has created an internal ombudsman to address concerns of readers and sanction offending journalists. The Swazi Observer has its own internal structures to address concerns raised by readers.

But the experiences of working with the code of conduct are not good. In a survey I did of the Swazi press in 2006 I discovered constant breaches of the SNAJ code of conduct. These breaches were in every one of SNAJ’s 19 clauses. They ranged in intensity from relatively minor infringements of fairness (apportioning blame in reports of traffic accidents), and clear bias in reporting on activities of MPs, to very severe examples of hate speech (homosexuals should be considered lower than animals).

The most striking aspect of the infringements was the almost casual disregard for the codes. For example, Article 5, which deals with privacy, states clearly that ‘intrusions into a person’s private life can only be justified when done in the public interest’. The ‘public interest defined as ‘all matters pertaining to and promoting public safety, security, health and general well being of society’ (SNAJ Code Definitions). This article of the code was casually disregarded all the time.

For example there was a report of a school student who was forced to drop out of school; another report that was conjecture on why a man committed suicide, speculation over the reasons for a possible suicide (with a photograph of a woman sobbing as she narrates her ordeal); a woman who spoke to reporter on condition of anonymity has her photograph published (she has her eyes backed out but she is clearly identifiable by her clothes and her location. It is impossible to justify any of these reports on the grounds of public interest as defined above.

My survey is not the only evidence that ethical journalism in Swaziland is poor.

A News Diet Study of the Swazi newspapers conducted by the Media Institute of Southern Africa – Swaziland Chapter (MISA) in 2006 discovered ‘serious ethical violations’ taking place in newspapers.

It found almost half the violations occurred in stories about child abuse or gender-based violence where the report failed to protect the victim and / or trivialised the event. MISA concludes, ‘This raises questions about the level of awareness among journalists of the need to report these issues responsibly and sensitively and, in particular, the standard of editing in the newspapers.’

How do we improve the ethical standards of journalism in Swaziland? The answer is very difficult and cannot be answered in a single essay. – that will take an entire blog.