[No Comment] It’s all about context, not knee jerk reactions!
By Louise Marsland in Editor's column, Marketing, Poll, Sunday Times | 6 comments
One can’t be a media worker and not have a strong opinion on the Deon Maas/Rapport issue. We’re giving this industry a chance to vote on this at our weekly poll: Should Rapport have fired columnist Deon Maas?. But for me this is not only about press freedom or freedom of speech or even freedom of religion. It’s about editorial integrity first. Whatever the content of the column, the fact is that Rapport did publish it and should have had the courage of its convictions to weather the controversy that followed. What is an issue for press freedom is that an editor bowed to admitted “commercial pressure” and threatened action from detractors over the ‘offending’ column which made reference to Satanism in the context of tolerance, by the now sacked columnist, Deon Maas. What happened to the principles of editorial integrity? An editor is the gatekeeper of press freedom and by implication freedom of speech. And if the decision to publish the column in the first place was the wrong one by Rapport given its conservative readership, then admit that. But it did give Maas a voice and published the column with vivid graphics so some thought process went into the decision. Then it dumped him when pressure mounted. What kind of a message does this send to those who would see the media have a lot less freedom than it currently enjoys in our fledgling democracy? How is this different from the Governments’ alleged threat to pull advertising from the Sunday Times over its critical stance or any advertiser’s threat to cancel ads over content they don’t like? What message does this send to the broader public – that media content can be manipulated if the pressure is great enough? How badly handled by a venerate media organisation that should know better!
It’s all about context!
Louise Marsland, editor@bizcommunity.com
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This column originally published 19 November 2007.
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Sonia ZD | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
How come the columnist gets fired and the editor not? I was under the impression the buck stops with the editor?
Florence M | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
Sonia, the columnist got fired because HE was the one who wrote the “controversial statements”. My feeling is just that Rapport hired Maas, PUBLISHED every single word he had written and should have stood by him through all of this. They’ve lost a lot of credibility over this, but at least they still have their loyal (and often parochial) readers.
Ben Rootman | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
Let’s practice freedom of speech - as long as it is not in my backyard? Tim du Plessis said it is not media freedom at all costs - so at what cost is it then? Should this then not apply throughout? Makes one wonder.
Andries | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
Deon Maas got fired for stating the obvious, a fact: he purely stated that satanism is a religion and should be granted that status. And he got fired for this? In a country that is supposedly secular I am amazed that a newspaper fires a columnist for having an opinion (not even an opinion though, he merely stated the fact) after hiring him to voice that very same opinion.
Tim du Plessis (Rapport editor) can say whatever he want, but I will not be convinced that he didn’t bow to the demands of his Naspers bosses.
The more things change…
Anyway, they’ve lost this reader!
Purple Lizard | Nov 19, 2007 | Reply
Talk about a scapegoat…
Who approved the article? Presumably the editor - so who should be held accountable for an article being published that caused such an outcry?
Totally unfair and unfortunate for you Dion that you have a such a spineless, weak editor who does not have the power of his convictions and the balls to support those who work for him.
Hopefully you are taking legal counsel?
Good luck!
reminder: | Dec 11, 2007 | Reply
angasi nkosi angasi nkosi