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With contributions from SA editors and journalists, and four commentators on the Press, who are:
Antony Lewis of the New York Times Nelson Mandela, President of the African National Congress
Lord McGregor of Durrris, chairman, World Association of Press Councils
Helen Suzman - press freedom fighter
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There is no complete digital record of this book.
Instead, stored here are numbers of MSWord extracts - and some contemporaneous notes and working papers.
These cast some light on the book - particularly the 'Original Scenario', which was
the draft outline of a work on the SA Press under Apartheid (1943-1990)
which eventually became “Editors Under Fire”.
The initial outline, more formal and
impersonal than the finished work, deals with the milestones of
oppressive legislation and police
action rather than the events themselves.
It gives a simpler chronological picture than the book does. The only change to this copy of the 'original scenario' is within
the [brackets] I have added in order to make the summary comprehensible to
today’s readers.
This original plan visualised 12
chapters. Research produced so much rich material about the activities
on numbers of unsung heroes among anti-apartheid South African
journalists that it ran to 22 chapters and 400 pages.
Original Scenario
The Intro should
explain the purpose of this study.
It needs to make
clear that this is not a full account of press under siege. Nor does it attempt the impossible (to
record what was NOT done by the English-language Press). It willl acknowledge fully the courageous
role of the so-called Alternative
Press at a crucial time.
It will point out that the mainstream press has
never felt the need to justify its actions; boast about them; or explain them. Mainstream newspapers made many mistakes;
retreated often to lick their wounds and contemplate survival or closure; were
not able adequately to reflect the views of black activists; but nevertheless
provided the most enduring and most effective opposition to apartheid, probably matching at least all other opposition
institutions, groups, parties and individuals fighting for 43 years for
justice.
But the current written versions of the role
of the mainstream Press are hugely unbalanced because of the bias of academics,
politicans and advocacy journalists towards telling the story only of the
self-proclaimed crusaders who have at times carried the banner, if not always
the weapons of the pen, in the war against racism and injustice. In doing so these writers
have, for differing reasons, felt it necessary to smear the mainstream press
and accuse it of failing to fight the good fight.
The record shows
otherwise. More important, it speaks for itself. Just read the headlines, the
published opinion pieces; the investigative stories, and finally the newspaper reports
during the worst of the censorship
that advised you to “read carefully – and read between the lines” In
those last days readers were advised even to ‘interpret’ the published blank
spaces published by newspaper until this informative act against censorship was forbidden.
The record shows that much that has been written
in many fashionable books and theses about the mainstream, independent press is
incorrect.
The record of
Argus newspapers, as set down in the columns of its own newspapers in the heat
of battle and without hindsight, is a remarkable one.
Note: The above will be rewritten when the
work has been completed
Chapter One......Trying to
be fair in an unfair society
Addressing
the values and philosophy of commercially independent newspapers and how these
values dictated the style in which editors of various Argus newspapers operated
under siege.
I intend to use dismissed Argus editor Morris
Broughton as a controversial focal point, and his philosophy of reasoning with
readers rather than preaching to them or constantly exhorting them (an impossible
task over several decades).
Address the
issue of balanced vs advocacy journalism
Brief history of origins of Argus Newspapers
and their audiences, and how these change with the times.
Mainstream press
in SA is similar to those in Britain, United States, Canada, Australasia,
India, South America, in fact most of the mainstream press in democratic countries
everywhere. The major difference being
that the SA press has been under siege for decades, and today still faces
authoritarian threats made in the name of democracy.
This chapter will describe the guerilla tactics used by
newspapers to fight, but to survive. ("Martyrdom is okay - and personally and briefly rewarding - but what do you
do for an encore?"). Mainstream press provided the shield and the
environment for others to do their David vs Goliath acts.
Ilustrations..???. Cuttings................
Chapter
2.....Press ownership and independence
Describes the
issues of ownership and monopolies and editorial independence.
[Partly in
interests of survival tactics – and partly for understandable desires for
discretion and caution – Argus Board gave its editors independence unmatched in
the world,, with total responsibility for all editorial policy and content in
their papers. That was in the later
stages of the war against the press. Pre-1960 Argus Co. editors Broughton and
McCauseland were dismissed for departing from company policy. On the other
hand, at the height of pressure in the 1970s & 1980s the editors of the
“liberal” Rand Daily Mail - Gandar, Louw, Sparks and Gibson suffered fates
ranging from early retirement and over-promotion, to the closing down of their
paper.]
Relationship
with mining interests. Cite samples of
exceptional editorial independence in
Argus such as Star editor Monypenny fighting the Chamber of Mines, and
much later, Harry Oppenheimer offering
a long and almost invisible leash to the newspapers which his financial
interests controlled.
Give examples of Argus editorial
moves against the economic interests of their own shareholders and seemingly against the short-term interests of their white readers - while management declined to over-ride editorial independence during the apartheid war against newspapers.
Illustrations???. Cuttings…..
Chapter 3. Birth of the Apartheid State
The start of
apartheid.("Die k---- op sy plek").
* Fagan Commission vs. Sauer Commission.
Three Nationalist Prime Ministers - two of them newspaper editors! - set the scene.
Their backgrounds help explain the climate that arose for a racist,
authoritarian State.
[One editor was
to become the first ‘Apartheid’ Prime Minister, Rev. D F Malan - jailed for
seditious libel in his early days while a preacher and journalist preaching the case against racial integration. The other was Prime Minister Verwoerd, main
architect of Apartheid, who was also a former newspaper editor. Verwoerd was
labelled ‘a Nazi’ while he was editor of the Nationalist Party organ Die Tranvaler. This
involved The Star’s celebrated accusation for which Verwoerd sued
the paper – and lost his case on the evidence in the comments he had printed in
his own publication.]
* Recall editor
Verwoerd’s post-WWII protest and
waterfront demo against Jewish immigrants arriving by ship in Cape Town.
* The good side of the late 1940s under Malan
was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the "Trek to Freedom" at the opening of Pretoria's Voortrekker Monument; to which
English Press was not hostile. The downside was oppressive legislation;
Immorality Act etc. which followed Afrikaner nationalism's acquisition of political power.
* Describe the battles over Nat. move to enlarge the Upper House of Parliament with its own nominees. It led to the successful libel suit against The
Star which had strong things to say about the ‘stooges’ the Nationalist
Party appointed to the Senate for the sole purpose of providing a two-thirds
parliamentary majority which could change the Constitution and deprive
‘non-whites’ of their vote. Dozens of newly appointed 'stooges' were awarded a pittance each by the Court - which itself had been rigged because of its oppositioin to illegal attempts to deprive voters of their rights on racial grounds. .
* Refer also to the ex-servicemen’s marches under
the banners of the Torch Commando. and their protests against Afrikaner
Nationalism and apartheid.
* List Government's concerted attacks on
the Opposition (English) Press.
First Press
Commission (Van Rhyn Commission) 1950.
But it reports only in 1962, and can be dealt with in Chapter 7)
Illustrations
available. Cuttings tell the whole story.
Chapter 4 Sharpeville and the media
1960...The year
SA came closest to civil war. Cato
Manor riots; Sharpeville massacre; Press coverage of Langa march on Cape Town.
(white's turn quickly to the sports pages!)
TV has its first major impact on SA. – but only on the outside world. South Africa was denied TV until 1976. . . when the SA Broadcasting Corp censored its own coverage of the '76 Soweto riots.
Verwoerd's call
for press "circumspection" as he continues apartheid-building in
terms of his "grand vision"
(such as stopping white officials and blacks shaking hands!) Also press ridicule of de Wet Nel's cautions
to press and parliamentarians to seal their lips (because ‘Bantus are riding
through Transkei on bicycles and inciting their people by reading them extracts
from Parliament’s Hansard’). Look for a
couple of amusing parliamentary columns.
Show the Press reaction
to new race-laws. Justice Minister Vorster's attack on rule of law. Anecdote about locking people up for a
period "this side of eternity". Press battle intensifies.
Mandela trial
and treason trials.
Illustrations: pix shd
be available. Cuttings; They
tell all, again
Chapter 5 Press Agreements
Police/Prisons/Defence
Act Agreements introduced in 1962.
Press is specifically accused of collusion with Apartheid regime on this score.
(Where do I get research help here? Is
there something in Head Office Argus history?)
I have plenty of examples of how we used all three agreements with those enforcing branches of Govt finally to extract some information - and to AVOID
censorship...a classic strategy which kept a news-window open. [e.g. Defence
Agreement after Angola 1975, and how we were able to report all of PW Botha’s
onslaughts on neighbouring states after that. Govt flatly denied SA armed forces were in Angola. Despite this we referred to a South African invasion of Angola - on the grounds that if the military were not involved, the Defence Agreement did not apply. We carefully made no mention of "troops" or army movements. The entire nation became aware of an invasion launched from |SA without even Parliament being aware. The Defence Agreement, at our insistence, had a clause which stated that we could use, without comment, news published in the outside world. . . and this we did fully. The only major limitation was the outside world's lack of interest in African wars- despite the involvement of Cuba and America's CIA.
This chapter may
also deal briefly with way apartheid legislation affected ALL reporting, eg.
reporting on environment; reporting on business were both subject to censorship
(I have examples; need more)
Illustrations: Jordi & lawyers
outside court in P W Botha case. etc.
Cuttings: Angolan war; raids in 1980s on neighbouring
states.
Environment/ business reports which caused trouble for
newspapers.
CHAPTER SIX.......Fight for
survival
1976......Sowetan/Star & famous photo
of dead child in arms of youth during riots.
Brilliant coverage, mainly by black reporters who were only ones to get
into townships. The Government accusses newspapers of inciting revolution.
Commission shows otherwise. The newspapers were able to warn of unrest and
pointed in advance to causes of anger and threaterned violence .
1977......The World/
Post/ Sowetan saga. The Argus-owned newspaper, twice closed
down, emerges with a new name and masthead each time.. Period of intense
threat on press.....mainly Argus newspapers in firing line.
Illustrations: Petersen pic, etc, Cuttings: Many front-page reports
available
CHAPTER SEVEN .........Press Councils
The struggles
between journalists and managers and NPU over strategies of how to use Press
Council to ward off public accusations of “irresponsible reporting” – and how
to “feed the govt crocodile” to win time without compromising editorial
standards.
Background to
two Press Commissions and three Press/Media Councils.
Describe the
fears and allegations of the Leftwing and the surprising number of gaps in
press restrictions found for sound reporting, following internal press debates
over "Self-discipline versus Government censorship” and “Self-censorship versus State
Control".
Argus case was
that self-discipline already existed – responsible, accurate reporting with
balance always been our policy - and desire for honest and undefiled reporting
was self-evident. We decided immediate defiance of the State was gratifyingly
dramatic – but totally shortsighted, for there would be no encores. We decided
to find loopholes in the 100 censorship laws, rather than open defiance - provided
deliberate self-censorship was combated
- constantly and at all costs.
However, Media Councils are creatures of Afrikaans as well as English
Press and there were some ambiguous attitudes at times - sometimes Argus Group
was weak; and unpredictably sometimes Afrikaans press was gratifyingly strong
in strategies for keeping press relatively free. ‘Lang’ Dawid de Villiers of
Nasionale Pers proved to be a champion of press freedom (It was he – the legal
expert - and I who, when allowed a
chance to see proposed legislation aimed at our Press Council, changed its
wording on the last day of Parliament as the politicians were rushing through the
Third Reading of the Bill. The Government for its own political reasons and against our protests, insisted on legislation to "officially recognise" the Press Council. We had to accede to this self-defeating action - but nullified it by simply adding a last-minute clause to kill the effects of the Act if
it was used to introduce a compulsory State-supported Press Council in place of
our own, voluntary, non-statutary one)
Illustrations???? CUTTINGS: Shd be plenty
Chapter 8........Investigative journalism.
Infogate The
Information Scandal involving the Citizen in 1978-79. SAAN [SA Amalgamated Newspaper ‘Morning Group’] does the running with its acquistion of a "Deep Throat".
Argus gets lots of hints, but little evidence. Chases Rhoodie to Sth America
where he eludes us to stay with Rees and Katzin of Rand Daily Mail. We catch Rhoodie "in jail" and go
to court to defend our pix, illegally taken of him as a prisoner. Divert into subject of pix censorship here.
Discuss how every newspaper yearns for a
"deepthroat" or a document on which to build a case (and
circulation).
Priorities for
investigative journalism are low in most mainstream media. Instead "people's service" eg
TEACH, to build classes for black kids not in school, and STAR LINE, to aid
consumers, are allowed to come first and take up expensive resources. (Starline
once employed staff of 12 ...enough to run a small weekly....handling the
everyday, but fundamental, apartheid problems of queues of black citizens.
(note how La Prensa prolonged its politically precarious life in
Argentine because of the popularity of its "people's services")
But
investigations are the circulation builders and the winners of journalism
prizes...irony of 1992 Goniwe document; scooped by New Nation.
Examples of
investigative journalism....corruption; big business polluting environment
Infogate the
biggest and best (until the horror's of CCB became apparent). Infogate
brought a reshuffled Nationalist Government - and new rules to prevent
investigation of corruption.
Also coverage of the evils of apartheid,
e.g. Group Areas - and foreign
correspondent accusations that "local press is ignoring such issues"
when our files and published pieces were ten feet high on each and every long-examined
subject ever "discovered" by visiting newsmen.
Deal with the CCB era - when city councils and municipalities were entitled to their own defence units ("Death Squads") to curb opposition to apartheid. The Star uncovers a notorious squad of killers with a long death-list (even my name is on it). We uncover the Webster assassination, but have little hard evidence.
Sum up the laws
which press has to contend with at this point - prior to the series of States
of Emergency imposed by P W Botha in his "Total Strategy against a Total
Onslaught"
The “Total
Onslaught” policy [ostensibly to help the Free World fight Communism,!] brought
on new tests of Press "patriotism" and its "negative"
reporting (F W de Klerk chairs meeting at which sins of press are presented to
editors. Must find and quote examples of what de Klerk’s staff deemed to be
“negative reporting”.)
Describe arrest
of (Editor) O'Mally and (Deputy Editor) Green for “negative reporting” on eve
of a protest meeting in Durban.
Illustrations: get pix,
Dbn mtg. Cuttings: on all issues
Chapter 9 .......How to fight censorship
First and Second Stages of Media Regulations
under State of Emergency in the total onslaught
era, and how we fought them. Bombarding
them with surplus, unusable news
reports to demonstrate how the censoring “helpers” could not handle the volume;
then refusing to submit anything to censors - except for the purposes of
extracting responses from them which, we argued, we could publish. Thus
we could signal to readers what was being censored, and why. Star has
remnants of a file of news reports which illustrate how we fought
censorship. Rex Gibson, Ron Anderson
and John Patten should have some examples.
e.g. We
‘illegally’ published of names of detainees.
also Star's
weekly report on DPSC. [(political) Detainee Parents’ Support
Committee] circumvented (or broke) censorship laws
The Detainees advert that we published -
nearly had Star confiscated. Had they succeeded, and kept our editions off the streets for a week or more - the cost might have broken The risk was that, unlike the case of The World that brought little revenue and other Arguspublications - the financial implications and collapse of The Star - flagship of the company and source of most of Argus newspapers news resources - might have a domijno effect on other Argus newspapers.
How to test the
"minefield". Did we go far
enough? Did we test the laws sufficiently?
Hit and miss method. give
examples of hits and misses (quoting Mandela and Tambo; Cape Times gets
hit, when editor thought he could get away with it. Star gets hit - but
for an editing "mistake"; not
a deliberate flaunt of an impossible prohibition..
Illustrations: blank
spaces; logos; readers' censor panel
Cuttings: stories
quoting censors; leaders etc etc
Chapter 10...........Battle
with Security Forces.
List the
‘Section 205’ battles which threatened all journalists and their sources (get
cases from lawyers?)
Long history of clashes with police. Star reporter Harry Mashabela beaten
up in custody [Police claim his arrest has nothing to do with newspaper and we
have no locus standi.in trying to intervene – nor proof of any assault]
Quarysh Patel,
Joe Thloloe, Thami and many more arrested in terms of press law and
held in custody without trial. (I must decide whether to use Argus
pressman persecutions in chronological context or pulled together
here...I
think it will be a mixture: e.g. Persecutions/prosecutions of Percy
Qoboza [Editor] stays with saga of
closing his paper The World, [Editor]Aggrey Klaaste's custody goes with
fate of Weekend Post; Jordi's [Editor The Star] trial goes with
chapter on the Defence Agreement, and so on).
I believe the "roll-call" is far longer than in any other
section of the press...but Argus has always preferred a low profile in order to
maintain its "let's reason together" stance.
"Dirty
Tricks" and Boesak
CCB and Jhb City
Council
Smit murders
Webster murder
Dr Ribeiro's murder
and the white Toyota's hit-crew we nearly pinned down.
I have a number of Star cases. I need more
from files of other newspapers.
PLUS Illustrations: Cuttings:
Chapter 11 ….. Collapse of
Apartheid
Third Stage
of Emergency Measures and how mainline newspapers
fought to save Alternative Press from being singled out and destroyed.
The collapse of apartheid. Star announces: "Regardless of the
current Press laws we shall now operate as if we are totally free, and do so
until somebody tries to stop us."
First test:
police whip demonstrators waiting for ANC at airport......Star publishes
pix of police in over-enthusiastic action at unrest. Authorities, remarkably, fail to react as usual to pix and
reports alleging ‘illegal behaviour’ of police
ILLUSTRATIONS
& CUTTINGS, here as elsewhere, will require a helluva lot of time and
research to locate.
Chapter 12... SUMMING UP
The
case for a group of newspapers, moderate, professional, independent, and trying
to bridge communities and obviate violence.
Not necessarily the heroes of the battle, but history may show they were
the brigade without whom the war would have been lost.
........Last section to be written just
before the introduction, and - though
justifying the cause of the Opposition, shackled Press - must not be
smug or self-congratulatory in tone.
Many of our papers were timid at times, or too bold for the wrong
reasons at the wrong time. We missed a
hell of a lot, even if we think we never submitted to self-censorship, or
indeed the censorship the govt tried to impose.
However, despite many lapses I believe the
Opposition Press can be justifiably proud that it fought a good fight.
The proof is in the number of times the
authoritarian government kept changing
their rules designed to muzzle the Press
They tried constantly for 43 years – right up to the last of the
Emergency Measures which desperately sought total control. But the most they
could achieve – and only at the end – were to make us resort to white spaces and warnings to our readers to
“listen to the BBC”.. or whatever.
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