Sonke Gender Justice v City Press and News24

Case: Sonke Gender Justice v City Press and News24

Complaints mechanism: Press Ombudsman

The panel of adjudicators: Johan Retief (Press Ombudsman), Peter Mann (public representative), and Joe Thloloe (media representative)

Date of finding: 10 December 2018

Status: Finalised

*****

Complaint overview: On 4 December 2018, the Press Ombudsman heard a complaint from Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) regarding “wrong, untruthful and distorted information” contained in an article published by the City Press and News24 on 9 September 2018 titled There is a new man. Sonke, assisted by Power & Associates, detailed in its complaint that the:

• the article was based on false information;
• the newspaper did not give it a right of reply and did not properly verify its information;
• the words “TALK TO US” at the end of the article, using its name as a link, perpetuated the false and misleading association between itself and sexual predators;
• the correction was not clearly noted in the online edition of the article; and
• the text was not clearly presented as a comment in the online edition of the story.

In its finding, the panel of adjudicators found that the City Press and News24 had committed Tier 2 (serious breaches) of the Press Code. By way of sanctions, the panel of adjudicators provided that:

“City Press is directed to apologise to Sonke for the:

• a false and unfair statement that that “for nearly a decade there was no sanction and Mr X continued to manage the programme”, creating the impression that it has ignored for nearly a decade allegations about sexual harassment in its midst; and
• huge harm this reportage has unnecessarily caused to its dignity and reputation.

The newspaper is also reprimanded for:

• initially reported that there were eight complainants, and not four; and
• incorrectly indicating that Johnson [the author of the article] was in Sonke’s employ from 2013 to 2016.

The newspaper is directed to:

• publish the apology, together with a summary of this finding (including the reprimands), on page 5, with a headline containing the words “apology” or “apologises”, and “Sonke (Gender Justice)”;
• afford Sonke the opportunity of a right of reply of not more than 600 words, which is to be published together with the apology; and
• circulate these texts among its social media platforms where the story was made available by means of hyperlinks.

The texts should:

• be published at the earliest opportunity after the time for an application for leave to appeal has lapsed or, in the event of such an application, after that ruling;
• refer to the complaint that was lodged with this office;
• end with the sentence, “Visit www.presscouncil.org.za for the full finding”; and
• be prepared by the publication and be approved by the panel.”

*****

Finding

The finding of the panel of adjudicators can be found here.