UNI VERSITY OF THE WIT WATERSRAND MA Journalism and Media Studies Research Report The Functioning and Transformation of Press Self-Regulation in a New Democratic Media Landscape: A Case Study of the South Africa Press Ombudsman Student: Olivia Vitumbiko Kumwenda Student Number: 406164 June, 2010 A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies. This research report is dedicated to my late mother Tinu Kumwenda. Her love and inspiration lives on, guiding me through-and-through. Table of Contents Declaration ......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................. ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ iii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Aim ................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2. Background and Motivation ............................................................................................ 2 1.3. Research Limitations ....................................................................................................... 6 2. Theoretical Framework and Literature Review ..................................................................... 7 2.1. The Press in a Democracy ................................................................................................ 7 2.2. Social Responsibility Theory of the Press ........................................................................ 9 2.3. The Case for Press Self-Regulation ............................................................................... 13 2.4. Press Councils: An Overview ......................................................................................... 14 2.4.1. Functions of Press Councils .................................................................................... 16 2.4.2. Press Councils, the State and the Law ................................................................... 17 2.5. Press Councils in South Africa ...................................................................................... 18 2.6. A Critique of Press Councils .......................................................................................... 21 3. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 24 3.1. Research Design ............................................................................................................. 24 3.2. Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 24 3.3. Interpretation of Findings .............................................................................................. 30 4. Findings .................................................................................................................................. 31 4.1. The Functioning of the Press Ombudsman System ....................................................... 31 4.1.1. Volume of Recorded Complaints ........................................................................... 31 4.1.2. How the Complaints Were Dealt With .................................................................. 32 4.1.3. Who Utilises the Press Ombudsman System ......................................................... 35 4.2. Content Examination ..................................................................................................... 37 4.2.1. The South African Press Code ............................................................................... 37 4.2.2. Ethical Issues Raised in Complaints ...................................................................... 46 4.2.3. Ruling Patterns ....................................................................................................... 47 5. Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 55 5.1. The Functioning of Press Self-Regulation in a Democracy ........................................... 55 5.1.1. The Popularity of the Self-Regulatory Mechanism ............................................... 56 5.1.2. Who Does the System Favour? ............................................................................... 57 5.1.3. Who Utilises the System: The Elite versus The Ordinary ..................................... 57 5.2. The Response to Media Transformation and Criticism ................................................ 59 5.2.1. The Response to the Democratic Constitutional and Legal Requirements ........... 59 5.2.2. Response to Public and Political Pressure ............................................................. 61 5.3. Serving the Public Interest ............................................................................................. 62 5.4. Rolling Controversies ..................................................................................................... 64 5.4.1. Calls To Do Away With the Waiver Requirement ................................................ 64 5.4.2. The Proposal for Imposition of Fines ..................................................................... 65 5.4.3. The Need for a Proactive Self-Regulatory Mechanism ......................................... 65 5.4.4. The Hate Speech Provision Dilemma ..................................................................... 66 5.4.5. The ANC and the Media Appeals Tribunal ........................................................... 67 6. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 68 Appendix A: .................................................................................................................................... 70 Appendix B: .................................................................................................................................... 74 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 77 Declaration I declare that this research report is my own unaided work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of Humanities (Journalism and Media Studies Department) at the University Of The Witwatersrand , Johannesburg. It has not been previously submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. Name: Olivia Vitumbiko Kumwenda. Date: June 14, 2010. i Acknowledgments My sincere appreciation and gratitude goes to my supervisor, Professor Franz Kruger for his constant guidance provided during the course of this research. I am equally grateful to individuals who gave their input through feedback as I progressed with the study and to all who made themselves available for interviews and gave me access to necessary data for the purpose of this research. I gratefully acknowledge my sponsor, Thomson Reuters, for offering me an opportunity to further my education. To my wonderful family and friends, I say thank you for your unconditional love and support. I am especially grateful to my brother Daniel Kumwenda, his wife Agnes and their lovely boys Christian and Melvin, for the unwavering support and inspiration. ii Abstract Press self-regulation has provoked debate and drawn criticism in South Africa since the practice was started over four decades ago following threats of statutory regulation. The practice has gone through various permutations to suit prevailing social and political environments in the country. Focusing on the press ombudsman system as a case study, this research examines the functioning and transformation of press self-regulation in response to the changing media landscape in a democratic South Africa. The research utilises social responsibility theory of the press to provide a theoretical understanding on the need for the press to be self-regulatory. Document analysis and in-depth interviews are the main data collection methods utilised in the study. Using thematic content analysis, the study then draws on themes emerging from the findings to address the research question. The findings show that people from across the range in South Africa utilise the system, albeit to varying extents, and that the system has fairly handled complaints with rulings evenly going for and against the press. The findings also show that through amendments to the Press Code and procedures for handling complaints, the press self-regulatory mechanism has transformed mainly owing to democratic constitutional and legal requirements and public expectations. However, the system has been resistant to some of the criticism, hence there still remains public and political pressure for the system to address the concerns. iii 1. Introduction The media in South Africa has experienced remarkable transformation since the end of the apartheid era with regard to ownership, staffing, content, audiences and notions on the role of the media (Berger, 2000).