Reponse to Independent Media: we need media freedom AND media diversity
The following letter was sent to Independent Group senior editors Karima Brown and Vukani Mde:
Dear Editors,
I refer to your editorial “‘Celebrating’ media freedom a misnomer”. The Right2Know Campaign would agree with much of the piece, which recognises that media freedom and media diversity are two sides of the same coin – a founding belief for R2K since its inception.
But ‘transformation’ is contested terrain in South Africa and it is not enough to focus narrowly on changing who sits on the boards of the same few corporations that have dominated our media landscape for so long.
This approach only goes so far in addressing the massive disparities in the way media is produced and consumed in this country. It’s palace politics, reproducing the country’s broader elite transition while overlooking the architecture of capitalism and apartheid that perpetuates the inequality of the past.
The Survé-led takeover of Independent from its previous asset-stripping owners did contribute to the racial diversification of media ownership – something we have previously acknowledged on record – but did nothing to challenge the monopolistic concentration of ownership. Print media is dominated by four major media houses, of which Independent is one.
R2K has consistently pushed for media activism that demands greater media diversity not only in terms of ownership but through alternatives to corporate media, including through worker-led ownership models, better funding for community and alternative media, and independent public broadcasting that reflects the views and concerns of poor and marginalised South Africans.
It is dishonest to claim, as the editorial did, that R2K’s Press Freedom Day statement said nothing of transformation. As we wrote: “If media consumption and production opportunities remain in the grip of monopolies, they will continue to be enjoyed disproportionately by the economically powerful. In a country with such high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality, appropriate interventions may be necessary to counter market forces that contribute to this phenomenon.”
Those who support transformation should join our call to break up the giant media corporations and shore up the community media sector.
Sincerely,
Micah Reddy
Organiser on Media Freedom & Diversity
Right2Know Campaign
[Update: We note that Independent Newspapers has settled with fired Cape Times editor Alide Dasnois, retracting the allegation of racism that has been at the centre of Independent’s campaign against her for the past two years, and acknowledging that she should not have been punished for exercising her editorial prerogative. The case is vindication for Dasnois and editorial independence.]
