Chairperson, I hope this will not affect my time. An approach is then encouraged where each media house competes with the other in dumbing down. Thus instead of carefully devised strategies to find and occupy niches, competition develops around tabloidisation of content. A pursuit of quantity without quality becomes the new deity.
The media cannot demand respect if it fails to assume its responsibility as a public utility in the popular search for a better life. This does not require sunshine journalism. It needs the media to critique public policies and their implementation, but do so in a manner that adds value to the national endeavour and reflect on the broader questions about how our souls are being poisoned by the spirit of conspicuous consumption in a socioeconomic formation that encourages greed.
The question of self-regulation by the media and the necessity for an independent media tribunal is a matter that should be brought back onto the agenda. [Applause.] Our Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee the right to information and comment, freedom of speech and that of the media. The freedom of expression and the right to information also implies the right to speak and to be heard. In other words, we should seek mechanisms for those who are disadvantaged to acquire the wherewithal to air their views. They should not merely be recipients of the views of others, but should also have the right to impart their own information and ideas.
Information about social phenomena should not be the preserve of the rich and the powerful. Press freedom is an important human right enshrined in our Constitution. It should be protected and promoted, as developed by the ANC. [Applause.] It is important to note that rights go hand in hand with responsibility, hence the need for a balanced, independent mechanism to adjudicate complaints between the media and society.
The ANC, having regard for concerns raised by a number of citizens, and complaints from a number of people who have been victims of unfairness and unsatisfactory decisions of this self-regulatory body, resolved to investigate a possibility of establishing a media appeal tribunal at its 52nd conference in Polokwane.
If, then, the media occupied such a hallowed position as a contributor to the evolution of nations, what frames of reference should it define for itself? South Africans, there is no other way; the media has to be accountable.
One of the roles of the constitutional state is to balance individual rights versus state power. Our courts have over time upheld freedom of the press, but there are still gaps between the powerful media and the violated rights of the individual. This is mainly caused by unfair and untruthful reporting which can cause irreparable harm to the said person's reputation. This, at times, is a violation of human dignity.
There are times when even journalistic principles are not followed. It is the responsibility of government to ensure that its citizenry enjoy all rights enshrined in the Constitution, including the right to human dignity.
We would like to assure all South Africans that when the media appeal tribunal is introduced all parliamentary processes will be followed, including public participation which is a critical part of our parliamentary democracy.
South Africans do not have any reason not to believe in us as we have a clear record of upholding human rights. Before the other parties were even formed and before the birth of this democracy, which anyway was largely fought for by the ANC, we resolved matters on constitutional principles, for example, the Harare Declaration. In 1991, we resolved to establish the office of the Ombudsman.
It is because of the support of the ANC in the constitutional negotiations that we now have a constitutional state that ensures human rights for all and not for the powerful only. Our transformation agenda did not end with the adoption of the Constitution and the birth of our democracy; in fact, state power is one of the weapons to ensure that there is better life for all our people.
Irresponsible reporting cannot be equated with freedom of press as it violates human rights. History has then taught us that most parties here will oppose us at first, but we know they will end up defending what they opposed in the beginning, like the issue of the Independent Investigative Directorate, the Scorpions as it is popularly known.
We do not have the luxury of acting after the effect; ours is to lead in the creation for a better life for all. As the ANC, we are not asking for favourable reporting, but a fair and truthful one. It is in our interest and that of the transformative agenda to have a robust media, but that robustness cannot be translated into irresponsible reporting. There are many instances where the robustness of the media has helped to uncover wrong things in government and in the private sector.
There are also many instances where the media has reported on the plight of our people, which has mobilised people to act positively. But, we must agree that there are those instances where even the media accepts that there is substandard work by some of the journalists; hence, they have a peer review mechanism. This was shown not to be enough. In many cases violation of human rights by the media is left unchallenged by the poor because they cannot afford the lengthy legal processes in courts. This therefore leads to some suffering in silence. It would be irresponsible of us as an ANC-led government if this remains unattended.
The many tasks we as the ANC have include democratisation of the state and ensuring human rights dignity for all. We know that we are going to gain friends and lose some, but one thing we can not afford to do is to gain a few friends at the expense of many South Africans who continuously suffer human indignity when their rights are violated by incorrect and sometimes malicious reporting.
We now invite all South Africans to play a critical role in engaging with the process when the government introduced ...