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News24, in an analysis of its opinion pages, as well as its hard news reporting, fully fulfils another requirement of the press code regarding trustworthy and credible news reporting, writes George Claassen.
One of the most important functions of the media in a free, democratic society is to provide a platform where different opinions can be expressed.
A former editor of The Chattanooga Times in Tennessee, Paul Neely, emphasised way back in 1985, according to The Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, that the news media should actively pursue and solicit opinion writers who are knowledgeable outsiders from a news outlet, not being employees of them.
He recommended that a newspaper should develop such a wide variety of opinions expressed through its columnists that readers would be unable to determine how editorial management and owners felt about any given subject.
Neely expressed strong views about the opinion pages in the media:
Naturally, that is debatable because, through its own editorial opinions written by senior editors, the news media also have the function to educate and enlighten its readers, viewers, and listeners. This educational function is vital during a time of crisis, such as the Covid pandemic, when News24 and other credible and trustworthy media took a strong stance to support evidence-based science and specialist, rated scientists who are experts in the field of virology and related fields.
This is daily also relevant to educating the public on intricate constitutional matters, legal interpretations, the economy, arts, culture, and science, expressing a value system where the South African Constitution is supported and held as a benchmark to responsible citizenship.
Numerous complaints
This requires that the news media should invest in appointing well-educated reporters and editors who can "bring to the job not only knowledge of history, psychology, political science and the like, but also the ability to use that knowledge to help interpret the events of the day, to put them in their proper perspective so the reader can understand them", as the journalism scholars Julian Harriss, Kelly Leiter and Stanley Johnson point out in their highly respected guide to the profession, The Complete Reporter.
I have over the past nearly six years as public editor of News24, received numerous complaints from readers over a wide variety of topics expressed on its opinion pages – Covid-19 and vaccinations; Jacob Zuma; Vladimir Putin and Russia's war on Ukraine and why News24 (or specific columnists) is so "against Putin"; LGBTQIA+ rights and why News24 does not take a stance against it; Donald Trump (surprisingly, there are South African readers, primarily white, who castigate News24 for not showing that Trump is the perceived saviour of the free world); the ANC's fall from the Madiba pedestal; the Patriotic Alliance led by a convicted criminal; the DA's moonshot pact proposal; the culture wars and wokeness – these are just a few of the topics getting under the skin of some readers who often want to silence some of the opinions expressed by our columnists, even wanting to ban columnists from writing for News24.
This is also noticeable in the comments below hard news stories and columns where some readers accuse News24 of being the voice of the ANC or the DA, mostly because of their own confirmation bias that is preventing them from having a holistic search and overview of News24's reporting and its columns. It is worth referring again to two columns I wrote about confirmation bias in 2018, and in June last year.
In the latter, I quoted the explanation of confirmation bias by Professor Bettina Casad, an expert in psychological sciences and contributor to the Encyclopedia of Social Psychology and the Encyclopedia Britannica:
I believe News24's ethical standard regarding its own reporters and editors writing opinion articles align with the latest "Editorial code of practice and guidance" of The Guardian, the benchmark setter of ethical standards among UK newspapers with its sister newspaper, The Observer. In the code, Guardian News & Media emphasises: "If you are employed as a columnist – with your views openly on display – you may have more latitude than a staff reporter, who would be expected to bring qualities of objectivity to their work."
News24 subscribes to the Press Council of South Africa's press code. In this code, section 7 describes the issue of comments which are protected:
- 7.1 The media shall be entitled to comment upon or criticise any actions or events of public interest; and
- 7.2 Comment or criticism is protected even if it is extreme, unjust, unbalanced, exaggerated, and prejudiced, as long as it is without malice, is on a matter of public interest, has taken fair account of all material facts that are either true or reasonably true, and is presented in a manner that it appears clearly to be comment.
The words by the award-winning and fiercely independent journalist Denis Beckett remain a constant reminder of the importance of the media's role in providing a platform where different opinions can be expressed.
News24, in my analysis of its opinion pages, as well as its hard news reporting, fully fulfils another requirement of the press code regarding trustworthy and credible news reporting, "the independent scrutiny of the forces that shape society".
Readers can and may never expect News24 to be a Lord Haw-Haw.
*(William Joyce ('Lord Haw Haw') was a radio personality who broadcast German propaganda to the United Kingdom during the Second World War.)
- George Claassen is News24’s public editor and extraordinary associate professor in journalism at Stellenbosch University.
*Want to respond to the columnist? Send your letter or article to opinions@news24.com with your name and town or province. You are welcome to also send a profile picture. We encourage a diversity of voices and views in our readers' submissions and reserve the right not to publish any and all submissions received.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
