Press Council expels Independent Media for failing to obey rulings

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The Press Council is the self-regulatory body that oversees print and online journalism in South Africa.Press Council Chairperson Judge Fritz Brand wrote that it was unacceptable that publications willfully refuse to obey the rulings of the Press Council. This is despite voluntarily having signed an agreement to commit to abide by the Press Code.

Signatories “are bound to comply with any sanctions against them made by the Press Ombud and the Chair of Appeals”. Brand added that it was “sad” to expel a Press Council member. This has only happened once before, when the PCSA expelled The Jewish Report in May 2022, he said.The Press Council sanctioned Independent Media for a column published by Sunday Independent on 3 March 2024 with the headline: Is Karyn Maughan South Africa’s Leni Riefenstahl – the Nazi Film Propagandist?

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The column stated that journalist Karyn Maughan shared similarities with the Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in that she operated as a propagandist in her coverage of the legal disputes involving Sekunjalo, the newspaper’s parent company.

In September the matter was heard by a Panel of Adjudicators. The panel upheld the complaint that the Sunday Independent and all online and other entities that had published the column had caused severe harm to the News24 journalist’s professional and personal reputation.

The publications were ordered to retract the column and to apologise to Maughan.Sunday Independent applied for leave to appeal the ruling, but the Press Council dismissed the application and ordered Independent Media to take down all publications of the column. Following this sanction, Sunday Independent stated on 1 October that it was withdrawing from the Press Council, claiming the Council was enforcing censorship.

The Press Council sought clarification from Independent Media CEO Mohammed Hoosain. In a letter dated 2 October, he confirmed Sunday Independent’s withdrawal, but it was unclear what this meant regarding the sanction.

On 3 October, the Press Council rejected Sunday Independent’s withdrawal and stated that the publications group must apologise to Maughan.Independent then published an article on Tuesday (22 October) stating the entire group was withdrawing from the Council. The Council then expelled Independent Media on Wednesday.

Independent Media initially withdrew from the Press Council in 2016 and rejoined the Council in January this year. The 2016 withdrawal followed a matter involving journalist Gillian Moodie who approached the Press Council about an outstanding apology owed to her by Independent Media after a finding made by the-then Press Ombud in 2016.

In August this year, the Press Council found that the 2016 finding and sanction against Independent Newspapers still stood, as Independent Media had failed to pursue the granted leave to appeal. The 2016 sanction was that Independent should apologise to Moodie. It was not implemented.

When Independent rejoined this year, the Press Council called for it to implement the Moodie ruling. But Independent claimed it had deleted the online article and regarded the matter to be closed. But it had not issued an apology as required in the 2016 ruling.

“The further erosion of the media in South Africa by Independent’s refusal to play by the rules of the self-regulatory body it helped to establish is an extremely depressing part of this malaise,” Gill Moodie said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.“Regarding current, pending complaints against the Independent Media group of publications, the Press Council will endeavour to reach some agreement with Independent Media on how to conclude the matters,” the Press Council stated.

Published originally on GroundUp