editorial: spare my name, but animosity towards gay people is not okay

By Mashilo Mnisi (BTM Editor)

Now we’re at loggerheads where some are just silent, and at least we are waiting for some sort of responsible action to enable us continue with our daily work than engaging in dirty work of fighting for someone’s reckless deeds. This is a ramification of unreasonable and disdainful attitude of Sunday Sun for publishing taunts of their columnist, Jon Qwelane, insulting homosexuals.

My intervention in this light is to first venerate and acknowledge the expertise of Joe Thloloe in the media that’s accompanied by long-standing experience of being seasoned editor and journalist for many years in South Africa. Although the press ombudsman, Thloloe, did cough in to shed some light in the saga between the gay community and the Sunday Sun publication or let me pull the entire Media24 stable, his intervention is still tentative as many are sceptical because the Press Ombudsman is a self-regulatory.

The point is that Thloloe is generally recounting media and editorial standards as pointers the way they stand in the South African Press Codes, hence he doesn’t directly blame Qwelane but the publication or rather the editor of the paper.

We understand that people have the freedom of expression but one should ponder the platform first before publishing their ideas and beliefs. I doubt it if the ombudsman is certain that Qwelane’s utterances couldn’t stoke violence particularly having used one of the fast growing public media in South Africa such as Sunday Sun.

As editor of a gay and lesbian organisation and media publication that holds rights and freedoms of people with high regard, I tend to denounce and deplore Qwelane’s views using the public media which is supposed to be neutral and protect the rights of the citizens despite one’s freedom of expression – for which I doubt if Qwelane ever understands that. If he opted for his own blog then it could have been a little worrisome and not taken seriously as people would respond informally and directly to that little blog.

So all this, I think, boils down to the gatekeeper of Sunday Sun for failing to engage with and exercise media ethics on opinions such as this to feature in their publication. Opinions are being published to give the public some space to debate and talk about the current issues, but as editor of whatever publication one needs to sense if such opinions are stepping on someone’s toes who is supposed to be represented by the same publication.

Themba Khumalo and Linda Rulashe, as editor and acting editor of Sunday Sun respectively, are the ones most to carry the blame for ignoring media ethics and being irresponsible in publishing a piece that could lead society into divisions. As to what should happen from here, they know much of that as publishers if I commit myself.