THE MEDIA-CREATED MYTH OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION


By Sandile Memela

 
My friend asked me for my views on the raging debate about freedom of expression, especially of the media. I told him that this time I have nothing to say. I prefer to keep my silence.

Yes, I have chosen silence because I do not want to mix my voice with the voices of hypocrites. And I mean what I say on this about the people who are holding the debate. I have heard far too many self-styled intellectuals and analysts with important voices in the media express condemnation of the ANC discussion document.


“This will kill freedom. It will undermine democracy.” They are journalists, editors, columnists, media activists, and academics.
Everybody who sides with this view has been given too much space in newspapers and television time to suppress open and honest discussion on this matter. It would seem that the prerequisite for your voice to be recognized is to join the chorus of condemnation.


I also see that there are some international organizations in America with South African expatriates in their ranks have expressed grave concern about developments. Everybody is angrily saying: “The ANC government is destroying freedom of expression and undermining our constitution.”


I am not angry but disappointed at this blind emotional reasoning on this matter. It is just a discussion document. Maybe I am naïve but I do not think that it is true that the ANC is out to undermine the constitution.


After all, it was the leading organization in drafting its principles. This is an important point that people conveniently forget, now. They have become selective and expedient in what they remember about the history the ANC has made. It has given this country the best constitution in the world. And they must not only be judged against it but held to its highest standards.


I want to be detached in my engagement on the matter of the so-called freedom of expression. It is a subject that makes me very angry. I become very angry with rage which is cool, sober and rational.


The thing is, there is no freedom of expression in this country.


To start with, the issue makes me want to spit in the faces of top dogs in the media. They are mostly self-important egomaniacs who serve the interests of capital. They are not there to serve the people or national interest. No, their purpose is primarily to make profits for those who own the means of productions.


It is all about truth in a way that entrenches the economic status quo without altering anything that threatens old money.


In fact, freedom of expression in this country belongs to those who own it. The second-highest rung in its hierarchy is occupied by those who work for those who own the media. Their role is defined as preserving the economic status quo. Whatever they do in their so-called pursuit of the truth, they must ensure that the cash tills ring. Profit-making is the motive. And this they do through sensational and superficial stories that fail to inform and educate the people about what is happening in their own country.


I wish to spit on their faces. For far too long they have predicted, for instance, that the ANC will lose, lose and lose in national elections. And, of course, the people – through their votes – have always shown that the media is out of touch with the sentiments and choices of the people on the ground. The media does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of this country.


In fact, the country has assumed a schizophrenic profile. There is a big difference between what the media reports and what people experience or see on the ground. So, who can trust the media’s portrayal of the ANC and what is happening in this country? Look what they are doing with just a discussion document!


What makes me angrier is the one-dimensional bias in news reportage and analysis. Not too long, the print media roared about the allegedly government-controlled SABC ‘banning’ voices said to be critical of the governing party. But there is no objectivity in the print media, too. It is not healthy that today it looks like everybody is against the ANC discussion document on the media tribunal.


The ANC has every right to make propositions and invite society to engage in the national discourse. It is their democratic right, too, to influence intellectual development and trends in this country. Instead, the media has become not only self-defensive but judgmental without necessarily pointing out that this is a discussion document.


After all, the ANC government, if it is that, has no official position on the issue of the media tribunal. It has not been adopted as law by parliament. So, what is the big deal?


What I know is that there is no diversity of thought and freedom of expression in the media. I know that for a fact. I do know that if the top dog editors agree with what you say, they will most likely publish you. But if you hold an oppositional view that does not affirm or comply with how the media house or its top dogs see the country, you will not be published.


I mean, they come up with all sorts of whimsy and flimsy excuses about space constraints and what-have-you. But this is nothing else but a sophisticated way to suppress voices that are deemed as too militant or radical, mostly with a pan-Africanist orientation.


I do not want to break my silence on the issue of freedom of expression. It is just that someone needs to light up a detonator that needs to make the bomb go off.


It is very easy to provide testimony on how freedom of expression in this beautiful land is a myth. Perhaps we should start with that. There are far too many voices that have been condemned to the wilderness of society. Prophets who demand to be heard on the issue of land ownership, economic injustice, monopolization of wealth, persistent racism and lack of transformation in the media and country are rarely given spaces or places to be heard.


They are deemed to be too radical with their voices deemed as threatening economic stability and reconciliation. Thus, those who pursue the political orientation of a Steve Biko or Robert Sobukwe, for instance, have no freedom of expression in this land.


It has become normal for their voices not to be heard except in little nooks and crannies of the land. What makes things worse, for me, is that the original and authentic people of this country – the Khoisan and Bantu - have no voices, too.


In fact, they have no words, vocabulary nor languages that are recognized by the mainstream media. The fact of the matter is that there are no newspapers in indigenous languages. And in radio channels that exist, the languages are diluted with English.


Also, they are strangled by a lack of advertising support or funding. Instead, the myth is created that the majority do not read when the true story is that capital is not interested in putting money in programs that will inform and educate the people.


The top dogs in the media perpetuate this lie. Thus, there are millions of poor, unemployed, hungry, homeless, unskilled, and ill-educated people dying from Aids who have neither platforms nor voices in this country. And yet people who own the media tell us about freedom of expression. What the hell is that?


I reject the rejection of a discussion document that could make us gain a big picture view of the meaning of freedom of expression in the country. I said to my friend that I will not participate in the discourse on freedom of expression. For Christ’ sake, I know that to enjoy unfettered freedom of expression in the media, you must be hostile and aggressive to the government of the people. I have seen far too many young editors,  journalists and columnists who have been tormented by making a choice between being true to themselves and earning good money with a high position.


It is not a good place to be. But I cannot sympathize with them for they are not exempt from the temptation of power, self-aggrandizement and greed. The media is not above the society in which it operates.


What we need to do is to critically examine the notion of freedom of expression. We have to stretch its meaning until it bursts. It is only when it collapses that we can get a sense of what is important in this society. I have chosen to lock myself in silence. I do not think that freedom of expression is a matter that demands urgent attention. It should be less of a priority than bread and shelter.


It can wait until we know what we talking about or what comes first. But for now, for the majority of the people, it is better to remain silent. It does not mean that they agree with everything that is going on. I feel strangled by the whole discussion on freedom of expression.


  Sandile Memela is a writer, blogger, cultural critic, and civil servant. He writes in his personal capacity.


 

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