CITY PRESS INVENTIONS & FALSIFICATIONS UNSURPRISING The African National Congress is outraged, but not surprised, by City Presss shameless sensationalism in its report on the voter registration campaign in Polokwane led by ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa at the weekend. We are not surprised because when it comes to issues relating to the ANC, the paper throws every journalistic ethic out of the window in favour of distortion, fabrication and sensation. This approach, which is tailor-made specifically for ANC-related stories, was confirmed in so many words by the papers editor during her recent fight with her Black colleagues. What outrages us though is City Presss relentless onslaught against the movement through blatant inventions and falsifications. The facts surrounding the Deputy Presidents visit in Polokwane, which were accurately reported elsewhere by ethical media, are that the voter registration engagement programme was successful and the ANCs message was warmly received. In Seshego, the Deputy President was greeted by a throng of local ANC supporters who sang and walked with him around the area. The Deputy President shook the hands of residents who had lined up the street to greet him, including those of a handful of EFF young men who were standing near the voting station. Only one EFF member refused to shake his hand. The Deputy President was also invited by residents into their houses in order to get an opportunity to raise issues with him. A visibly drunk man blocked a gate of one of the houses in which he was invited, thereby denying that family an opportunity with the Deputy President. Residents later confirmed that the intoxicated man was not the owner of the house. Does one drunk man making a nuisance of himself and one EFF supporter choosing not to extend a hand out of the many community members who excitedly lined up along the streets to welcome the Deputy President means Seshego shuns the ANC? Most of the Deputy Presidents time on Saturday was spent with families in their sitting rooms. He later expressed his deep appreciation at the local peoples warmth. To use these uneventful occurrences as an opportunity to fabricate and distort the entire visit in order to suggest the Deputy President was shunned by the entire Seshego is illustrative of the extent City Press would go in order to reflect the ANC in bad light. We condemn such vindictive reporting in the strongest terms. The ANC will lodge a formal complaint with the press ombudsman.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 06:35:33 +0000
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