A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of the University of Witwatersrand’s Masters by Coursework and Research Report in Journalism studies, Johannesburg, February 2017 / Journalists are often presented with leaked information from whistleblowers. Having the information and writing the story, as well as handling a source that may or may not want to be anonymous, gives rise to ethical dilemmas on the part of the journalist. This was certainly true for journalists reporting on the political violence in South Africa during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Journalists operate under codes of practice that are set by various media organisations and must ensure that in using whistleblower information to write their stories, “they must avoid breaches of ethics, fairness, factual accuracy and contextual accuracy” (Houston, B. et al., 2002: 538). And most importantly, journalists are ethically bound to protect their sources. This research looks at the interaction between journalists and their sources of information in two major stories that involved the use of whistleblowers. It discusses and compares the issue of “source handling”, in the following two South African stories which used information leaked by whistleblowers: a. the 1991 “Inkathagate” story, which was broken by the Weekly Mail newspaper; b. “Vlakplaas” hit squad story, initially involving the Weekly Mail (20 October 1989) and then Vrye Weekblad (November 1989). This study also brings into focus the issue of strengthening journalistic ethics in the South African context. It contends that the “Inkathagate” and “Vlakplaas” stories were dependent on the verification of the information, as well as the ethical handling of the whistleblowers. This study raises questions about the motivations of the whistleblowers, their relationships with the journalists, as well as the critical role of the public’s “right to know”, or “public interest”. / XL2018

This thesis examines the complex ways in which notions of the public interest and commercial imperatives intertwine in journalism practice. It does this through a study of the 2004 takeover and relaunch of the Sowetan newspaper, the highest circulation daily in South Africa throughout the 1990s and an institution of black public life. The ‘public interest’ and ‘the commercial’ are recurring ideas in journalism scholarship and practice, and the relaunch appeared to be a challenge to reconcile the Sowetan’s commercial challenges with its historical responsibility to a ‘nation-building’ public. However, the research shows that the public/commercial aspects of journalism were inextricably entangled with Sowetan’s organisational culture, which was the matrix through which its journalism practice was expressed. Conflict in the organisation over the changes was not simply a contest between commercial realities and the public interest, with journalists defending a responsibility to the public and managers pushing commercial solutions, but a conflict between the culture of Sowetan “insiders”, steeped in the legacy of the newspaper, and “outsiders”, employed by the new owners to effect change. Another conclusion of the research is that commercial “realities” – often conceptualised as counter to the public interest – are highly mutable. Basic conditions, such as a dependence on advertising, exist. However, media managers must choose from a range of strategies to be commercially viable, which requires risk-taking, innovation and, often, guesswork. In such situations, the ‘wall’ between media managers and senior editors is porous, as all executives must manage the relationship between business and editorial imperatives. Executives tend to overlook culture as a factor in changing organisations, but I argue that journalism could benefit from engaging with management theory and organisational psychology, which offer ways to understand the specific dynamics of the organisation. Finally, I argue that the case of the Sowetan throws into question the idea that there may be a broadly universal journalism culture. The attachment of Sowetan journalists to their particular values and practice suggests that forms of journalism evolve in certain contexts to diverge from the ‘professional’ Anglo-American modes. These ‘journalisms’ use similar terms – such as the ‘public interest’ – but operationalise them quite differently. The responsibility to the public is imagined in very different ways, but remains a significant attachment for journalists.

This study investigates Grocott’s Mail’s rape reporting through a participatory action research process. It draws on feminist cultural studies, sociology of news, and normative theories of the media to inform the research project. The participatory action research process explored three areas with the journalists at Grocott’s Mail: their understanding of the community they serve and their own professional identity as a community of practice, roles of the media in society which inform reporting, and rape as a social issue and problem. Through this process the study found that the pervasiveness of rape in the Grahamstown community, the complexities around rape reporting which include the significant legal challenges, the personal impact rape cases have on journalists, and the journalistic roles and approaches employed in rape reporting all influence how the paper covers rape. In analysing these matters the study found that the primary factor inhibiting a successful strategy for managing rape reporting was that Grocott’s Mail does not place gender-based violence on their news agenda as an issue requiring attention in order to develop the community they serve.