Media
Institute of Southern Africa - Swaziland Chapter
Media
Alert, February 1, 2013
Government tells media to sort
itself out
The
government of Swaziland is aware that the media is acting irresponsibly.
Principal
Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, Sikelela
Dlamini, issued a statement on 30 January 2013, in which he criticises the Times
of Swaziland Sunday, a weekly tabloid, for breaching not only its own code of
ethics but also the country’s Constitution.
The
ministry was responding to an article published by the Times of Swaziland Sunday on 27 January 2013 under the headline ‘The Naked Truth?’. The
article chronicled the fallout between a Swazi diplomat based in London and her
former Zimbabwean boyfriend. He is allegedly trying to recover money from her,
and because she allegedly refused – or didn’t repay what he thought was the
required amount – he posted a series of intimate and naked photos of her to
Swazi diplomatic offices as well as posting the photos online. It is a
seemingly a simple yet messy case of blackmail. And it is not unreasonable to
suggest that none of this should have entered the public domain in the first
place.
However,
the Times of Swaziland Sunday –
published by the Times of Swaziland Group
of Newspaper – ran a lopsided story and published a naked photo of the woman
with her breasts, private parts and face blurred. The photo does not protect
her identity nor does it respect her right to privacy, despite ‘efforts’ to the
contrary.
The
ICT ministry was “horrified” by the story and the photo, stating that freedom
of expression could not be used to breach professional boundaries or used to
overstep ethical or legislative limitations.
“The
recent blatant publication of indecent photography of one of our female
Citizens, who equally enjoys protective Constitutional provisions, has
generated wide public outcry… while questioning the professional discretion of
certain establishments [The Times of
Swaziland], within the local press corps.”
The
Swaziland chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Swaziland) is
the first to decry the endemic censorship in the kingdom, however on this
issue, we acknowledge the position of government.
The
ICT ministry may
not have the finest record on matters of freedom of speech, but
MISA-Swaziland must give credit where it is due. The government is invoking the
media code of ethics and the Constitution as it was meant to be invoked: to
protect people from degrading and inhuman treatment.
As
it stands, in early 2013, there is no operating independent media complaints commission
(MCC) in Swaziland. It only exists on paper, however after its ‘launch’ in
mid-2011 it failed to get off the ground. This commission has been in
‘discussion phase’ for ten years. MISA-Swaziland urges members of the MCC,
Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ), and Swaziland Editors Forum
(SEF) to push hard to get the MCC operating. If there was an operating and
trusted complaints commission, aggrieved or defamed citizens – such as the
woman who has had her naked body unwittingly splashed into the public’s view –
could approach this organisation to seek an apology, resolution, or some other
form of damages. Moreover, with a self-regulatory ‘mechanism’ in place the
government will be less inclined to introduce a statutory media tribunal.
The
government has been telling the media to ‘sort itself out’ for a long time.
MISA-Swaziland shares this sentiment, and will continue working with the media
and the government to ensure progress is made.
National
Director of MISA-Swaziland Vuyisile Hlatshwayo said the Times of Swaziland Sunday was “wrong” to run the story and publish
the photo, thereby feeding into a former lover’s blackmail plot.
“It
is obscene,” he said. “We have a constitution that should protect
against this sort of thing. Article 18 speaks of 'protection from inhuman or
degrading treatment'. In MISA’s view, the publication of the photo is in direct
violation of the Swaziland Constitution.
“The
reason why this happens – unethical stories and photos get published – is
because there is a lot repression and censorship when it comes to ‘real’ and ‘hard’
news, therefore the media has resorted to tabloid journalism, which thrives on
scandals.
“In
other words,” Hlatshwayo continues, “it is this soft and superficial news
which is increasingly creeping into our media. MISA urges the Swazi media to
be courageous enough to tackle issues which are in the public interest,
rather than focusing on scandals and stories
of insignificance."
See
also
‘TIMES
SUNDAY’ ENCOURAGES BLACKMAIL
