the phoenix
Editorial Integrity
What exactly are the responsibilities of a publisher when reporting
the news? This question has been exercising my mind lately, and the
catalyst for these thoughts came from the most unlikely of sources.
B
efore I get to this unlikely catalyst,
let me first analyse the role of
my publication. aBr is a trade
publication, and in its short existence
of five and a half years it has built a
formidable reputation, and today
aBr, aBrmotoring and aBrMOVE
form a formidable trilogy of
titles, all packaged into one
seriously influential business
to business magazine. Add our
rapidly growing digital presence
in the form of www.abrbuzz.
co.za, www.abrmotoring.co.za,
www.abrmove.co.za, and www.
abrwonderland.co.za; and our
foray into the various social
media avenues; and our power
extrapolates exponentially to
the national and global business
spheres, and even the general
consumer space.
Our responsibility, as a business
publication first and foremost,
needs to be examined against
this reality. We are not a
consumer publication, so I do
believe that our journalistic
role must also be examined in
this light. We have the duty to report
accurately and fairly, but we do have
to take the needs of our advertisers
seriously. And if they have something
important to say, and it is in the public
interest, we shall publish unashamedly.
And I don’t think anyone will condemn us
if, when deciding on two similar pieces of
editorial, we favour the editorial that has
emanated from one of our advertisers.
We are, after all, a business to business
publication. So, when we do a special
feature, such as the special feature on
fitment centres in the automotive industry
that you will find on page 18 in this issue,
we do invite submissions from our
advertisers, and they do take preference
in the editorial queue. I am happy to do
this, and I do not think it impinges on our
editorial integrity.
Now that I have got that off my chest, I can
return to the responsibilities of a publisher
when reporting the news, and specifically
news that has no business input, nor
business bias. The catalyst that I referred to
in my introduction is actually not from the
print media, but from a TV channel.
The said channel (407) can be found
on DSTV, and it is called RT (Russian
Television). A few months ago an associate
and I were discussing the options available
when looking at international news
channels, as I mentioned that BBC, CNN
and Sky sometimes carried the same stories
simultaneously, and he suggested that I try
RT, as it gave a different slant to the news.
I followed his advice, and after watching
this channel for a few days, I started to
feel decidedly uneasy, because it was
clearly directed at a disaffected American
audience, with jibes at all things American,
dished out by what I can only
deduce as discards from the
mainstream channels. Even
Larry King has been roped into
this journalistic charade. But my
unease changed into disgust
when the Ukrainian crisis went
into overdrive. RT also went into
overdrive, and suddenly these
Benedict Arnolds had changed
tack, and were spouting
poorly disguised vitriol at the
Ukrainians who had exercised
their democratic rights to kick
out an east leaning dictator, and
if someone with low intelligence
was watching this, he would
believe that the guys from Kiev
ate their children, and sold
their grandmothers to slavery.
It is propaganda in its basest
form, and it makes those ANC
apparatchiks at Auckland Park
look like rank amateurs.
Joseph Goebbels said
that “The most brilliant
propagandist technique will
yield no success unless one
fundamental principle is borne
in mind constantly - it must
confine itself to a few points
and repeat them over and
over.” The RT bosses have
clearly been listening.
Whilst this issue of aBr is jam packed with information, our monthly contribution cannot do justice to the wealth of information
available on a daily basis, so don’t forget to get your daily fix on our website. Make sure that you make regular visits to
| words in action
2
may 2014
www.abrbuzz.co.za