The Drum magazine will not be apologising to Bonang Matheba any time soon if not ever. The magazine was found guilty by the Press Ombudsman for publishing medical records the magazine claimed where about “an abortion of a woman fitting Bonang’s age and description” and alleging she is doing drugs as per their source’s claim without doing anything to verify the allegation, according to the Press Ombudsman’s findings. However, Bonang made it very clear she never had an abortion and is now suing the magazine, wants the magazine to
apologise on their cover as per the ombudsman’s instruction.
Despite being found guilty for
publishing the so called medical records, the magazine has no intention of apologising. “The editor is fighting the ombudsman’s ruling and took the matter to the magazine’s lawyers to look at and see what they can do. It does not make sense that the magazine should apologise whereas Bonang says the medical records are not hers,” says my source. Another source of mine adds. “The article never said Bonang had an abortion, the article stated the woman who had an abortion fitted Bonang’s description.” But the ombudsman found the magazine guilty, surely the office deserves the respect it should get especially in the wake of the whole Media Appeals Tribunal push if it passes, journalists will be arrested for making mistakes. Wouldn’t it be better if the magazine apologised and got the whole thing over and done with? I put this to my source. “Hell no! The editor doesn’t want to apologise because as much as Bonang says the medical records are not hers, the woman who leaked the records was fired. Immediately that makes one wonder why the woman would get fired if the medical records are not hers,” says my source.
My source further alleges Bonang doesn’t want the media to be writing about what she went through last year and only wants them to forever write about how she is now on Top Billing adding you cannot tell the media what to write about.
“Listen man, it is better if the magazine pays Bonang a lot of money than apologise. Imagine what that will do to the brand that the magazine is,” says my third source. But the whole article was also damaging to Bonang’s brand. “You speak like you are not a journalist. The media’s job is to write news and cannot be seen to be favouring certain public figures,” says the source.
“This whole issue is now being handled by the lawyers of the two parties and hopefully an agreement will be reached. Obviously the magazine is avoiding this matter to be taken to court and is prepared to pay up money than have the whole embarrassing apology on the cover,” says my first source.
“But man, you need to be careful on how you write this story because you do not want to upset anyone,” says my deep throat and I just rolled my eyes mina.
This isn’t the first time a reputable weekly publication finds itself in hot waters after publishing medical records of a prominent public figure, well, except that Bonang insists the medical records are not hers. In 2007, the late Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s medical records, Minister of Health at the time, were published in the Sunday Times and the paper titled their story as follows: “Manto’s hospital booze binge” with a subsequent headline the following week reading “Manto – a drunk and a thief”. In the first article, the paper detailed how the now late Minister allegedly jumped the queue to receive a liver transplant and ordered to be served Woolworths food, had wine and allegedly got drunk while on her hospital bed.
The matter saw the paper being sued and tried to fight the matter in court. However, medical records of any given individual, be it a celebrity or a politician, are a private matter as it isn’t like a cheating or corruption scandal. Medical records are most definitely a no go zone area. The paper had to settle the matter out of court with the Minister and you can just imagine how much they paid her since they never apologised.
In breaking the press code, pushing the boundaries and reporting on a private matter, the story must be in the public interest. Also, there is a difference between what interests the public and public interest. The latter cannot be defined by what interests the dumbed down masses. Some trivial celebrity gossip can hardly be public interest, unless otherwise.
If I was the Drum magazine, I was gonna write the apology on the cover and have Bonang on the cover as a lead. I would write the apology very prominently but do it on my own terms. This is what I would do: I would assign an unbiased media academic or practitioner, who would interview the journalist who wrote the story, interview the editor about how the decision to publish the story was made and very importantly, get the so called megastar Bonang Matheba’s comment on the whole thing. I would continue to ask the writer of the apology article to give his or her expert analysis of the whole saga especially because Bonang insists the medical records are not hers. Then in my editorial (if I was the editor) I would ask my readers to make up their minds.
For now, we are waiting to hear what the matter between the lawyers of the two parties would reach an agreement or not and hopefully, if a settlement is reached, my sources will be very benevolent with information so I can update you.
Wise people often say admitting you are wrong [even if you are not] is a sign of strength.
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