The South African Broadcasting Corp. is in hot water with revelations of reporters, commentators and analysts blacklisted from appearing on news programs. The Mail & Guardian obtained a copy of an internal SABC report on the blacklist and posted it online. Among the banned personalities is Paula Slier, a freelance journalist blacklisted for her coverage of Israel.
SABC news director MD Dr Snuki Zikalala accused Slier of “taking sides” in the Mideast conflict and dismissed her as a “white, Jewish girl.” The blacklist report elaborates on Zikalala’s instructions to ban Slier:
5.38. De Zikalala elaborated about his giving an instruction not to use Paula Slier. It is important that his justification be quoted verbatim:
“Paula Slier, I’ll give you an example. Paula Slier, why I said we should not use Paula Slier. What happened is that during the time of when Arafat passed away, when Arafat passed away Paula Slier used to work for us as a journalist and Paula Slier was much more biased towards what’s happening in Israel. It was a Jewish war and especially the Middle East. We knew exactly her bias because she once wrote an article justifying the separation of the Palestinians, which was very, very negative towards us.
From the movement where I come from we support PLO. But she supported what’s happening in Israel. And then I said to them Paula Slier we cannot use her on the Middle East issue because we know where she stands. We need somebody who’s impartial. We do have a correspondent there, I said lets use the correspondent … that person is impartial, does not take sides. Paula Slier on the Middle East issue we can bring in all the tapes that she’s written, she takes sides. I’ve got that editorial responsibility to do that. That’s why I’m employed, to do checks and balance. I said no, you can’t you can’t undermine the Palestinian struggle, you can’t. for me it’s a principle issue.”
So SABC’s news director put in writing that:
* Slier is banned because she is “negative to us.”
* Where Zikalala comes from, “we support the PLO.”
* SABC reporters “can’t undermine the Palestinian issue.”
Zikalala’s agenda speaks for itself. Any news director with such an overt bias against Israel is just as capable of skewing other areas of coverage, as revealed by the Mail & Guardian.
(Hat tip: It’s Almost Supernatural)
