Where are the fighters for press freedom now?
The arrest of Sunday Mirror journalist Simon Wright in South Africa should have press freedom advocates in South Africa and elsewhere hopping up and down, demanding his release and the withdrawal of charges against him.
We all seem to have lost our tongues because of the World Cup and our patriotic fever. But from any angle I look at this, I can only see Wright's arrest flowing from normal journalist work.
National police commissioner Bheki Cele seems to suggest that Wright was involved in British fan Pavlos Joseph gaining entry to the English team's dressing room after a game in Cape Town. The Sunday Mirror, for which Wright works, deny this and say he was simply involved in a pursing a legitimate story.
Let us look at all of the theoretical scenarios here:
1. Wright works with Joseph for the fan to gain access to a secure area with the English team, a move which exposes a major security breach at the world cup. I can't see how this is not legitimate journalism. South Africa promised the world their players would be secure and anything which exposes a flaw in that undertaking is legitimate journalism.
How many times have South African newspapers exposed prison security lapses/airport security failures etc using similar techniques. If one of our reporters was arrested we would
be hopping up and down.
2. Wright had squirreled Joseph away to ensure his newspaper retained exclusivity. Is this "defeating the ends of justice" for which he has been charged? Maybe, but it is also a journalist protecting a source, something we in South Africa feel strongly about.
My view is that Wright is being pursued and prosecuted because his journalism has embarrassed our country and the
national police commissioner who made a lot of noise about how ready SA was for securing the world cup.
No matter what we think of the
British tabloids or their apparent agenda to trash South Africa, as
journalists we should stand firm on our principles and leap to Wright's side.
Even if I am a lone voice in this wilderness, I say Wright must not be prosecuted.
South Africa has a Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and I'm more proud of
that than even the fact that we are hosting the world cup.
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June 30th, 2010 - 16:29
There’s a lot of fine lines here. In principle, I think you have a good point.
Leaving aside questions of whether the fan’s actions were criminal, whether they should have been criminal, or how serious they were. I think he should get a R100 misdemeanour fine for ignoring a no-entry sign and causing a public nuisance, but let’s assume the police had legitimate cause to arrest and charge him with a crime.
1. Does committing a crime, or conspiring to commit a crime, for the sake of demonstrating that it can be done, grant a journalist immunity from prosecution? I don’t think so.
2. Does protecting a source extend to actively harbouring a fugitive from justice, and if he does so, should a journalist be immune from prosecution for such an action? I don’t think so.
There’s a dangerous area here, and one which not only undermines the legitimate cause of justice, but also undermines the public’s faith in the legitimacy of journalism. This is to think that press freedom places journalists above the law. The media does have rights and privileges on grounds of press freedom, yes, but I do not believe these rights extend to criminal actions in pursuit of a story.
June 30th, 2010 - 16:44
OK – so maybe we don’t have all the facts at our disposal just yet, but let’s theorise on your thoretical theories here:
What happened in the changing room trespass incident is of no significance to the charges against Wright. Joseph (the fan) was charged under the FIFA act for “being somewhere that he shouldn’t be without having the accreditation to be there” or whatever. He’s paid R750 admission of guilt charge and he’s gone.
It’s over.
Wright’s charges relate to what happened after the incident. If there was no warrant for the arrest of Joseph when Wright “sequestered” him away at the Bay Hotel, then the charge of Defeating the Ends of Justice might have to be dropped, I understand. It’s only if there was a warrant out that hiding him this way is against the law.
However, booking Joseph into the Bay Hotel under a false name is clearly in contravention of the Immigration Act. I don’t care who Wright is, what story he was “pursuing” or what vulgar stories he has reeled out about SA in the run up to the World Cup (and there have been a few) – that is illegal.
‘Press Freedom’, my arse. You can’t break a straightforward law like that and expect to get away with it.
Bang him up and let’s hear what he thinks of Pollsmoor.
June 30th, 2010 - 17:31
Doesn’t it strike you as something of an over-reaction to arrest a journalist over what, as Ivo correctly points out, seems to be a simple trespass issue? The fact that the transgressor has been let off with a light admission of guilt fine doesn’t suggest that the prosecuting authorities regard this as some great crime against the state.
I also agree with Ivo that there are lots of fine lines in this. For example, I had an experience some years ago at the Sunday Times when we revealed guys selling dodgy vehicle roadworthy certificates. We used wrecked a bus chassis to generate the documents which they then issued roadworthy certificates on. The cops reaction was to threaten to prosecute myself and the reporter rather than investigate the guys selling the fake roadworthy certificates. Who should have been prosecuted?
My point is that journalists are the first to be nailed when the authorities should be looking more seriously at the issues that are exposed. What was the security threat to the English team and does it merit further investigation?
If you boil this down to its bare bones (based on what we know) does it merit arresting a journalist? I don’t think so. And I do think that we need to make a noise about press freedom, even if we don’t like the story that was told.
July 1st, 2010 - 11:47
I don’t think that the two are mutually exclusive. You can investigate the security breach and arrest the hack. I know they’ve done the latter and I would be shocked if they hadn’t done the former. As Cele pointed out, such incidents – however caused – do not reflect well on SA and its security for the tournament.
But as I said, the charges against Wright don’t relate to the trespass incident. They relate to what he did to protect his source (and therefore his exclusive) after the incident. He could have simply waited until Joseph was arrested, charged and bailed before getting his interview, but instead apparently chose to book him into the Bay Hotel under a false name. That’s got nothing to do with press freedom at all.
Wright’s only concern was that another journo didn’t get to Joseph first and he broke the law to ensure that it didn’t happen.
I still haven’t seen anything here (or anywhere else) that gives me any reason to believe that he should not be prosecuted.