Well there you have it, editors are getting arrested for revealing Dr Beetroot’s medical records, and I can’t say I blame her for getting upset. Come on, there are boundaries, even in freedom of expression — privacy and human decency has to be weighed against the need for transparency and open debate.
Which is probably why I have laid criminal charges against the editor of the Cape Times and two journalists for publishing a fraudulent report in which I am referred to as an unsuccessful “serial litigant” for having the audacity to take the Independent Group to court for non-payment of monies owing. Aside from the fact that I won, and they lost, it is exceptionally bad form to fight anyone over a bread and butter issue. Then there is the Media24 fraud, not the debacle in which they cooked their books over advertising figures, but the fraud in which they tried to squash my case at the CCMA and Labour Court, and aided and abetted by the Cape Times no less.
You heard it here. Not only do I have a statement to this effect from a member of the Workers International Vanguard movement, okay not the greatest of sources, but there is prima facie proof that the shenanigans at Media24 extend to Independent. Firstly there’s the controversial O’Brian report accusing the O’Reilly board of crony capitalism. Then there’s the Clear Channel fiasco in which advertising agencies, public relations firms and entertainment representatives were bound up with a company supposedly delivering us the news.
The Clear Channel Independent saga has received absolutely no comment from South African journo’s or media organisations, perhaps because we are all so damn scared of big government and big brother that we can’t be bothered to stick our necks out to criticise the Big Chairman, O’Reilly. He really is starting to look a little like Mao Tse Tung. And this is where my comrades in the workers movement come in. Surely if all of this Irish-American capital translates into us being denied freedom of speech and the right to respond to editorials, then the O’Reilly version of capitalism is no better than the Mao Zedong version?
Get rid of the left and the right. And maybe we can talk. But rumours that I demanded to air my views “on air” on a radio station that can’t be bothered to play the blues, are complete and utter nonsense. Why would I want to repeat myself or an interview already conducted by UCT Radio? Yes I did make a noise at UCT and thankfully I got some airtime for my trouble, but by the looks of things, Zulpha Khan would like us to believe that I am some kind of terrorist intent on taking hostages.
What a load of rot. The state of journalism in the Cape really resembles the dark days of apartheid, only this time, I am not supporting editors and their right to drive Hummers while spitting at the average Joe. May Gavin’s cronies choke on their ciabatta rolls. Down with O’Reilly and Down with Ton Vosloo and all the racist Media24 henchmen.