THANK YOU & GOODBYE

In its last edition, the News of the World, rocked by shameful scandals, had this headline: “Thank you & Goodbye.”

I will explain as you go through the piece why the directors and owners of one of the leading newspapers in the world, dubbed “King of Sunday tabloids” decided to close it. Those who have been around, seen that and done that; have a mammoth task to share wisdom and insights with souls needed for the future.We have to impart knowledge to the young ones so that they do not go astray during perilous times.

I mentioned last week that we needed to understand the attitudes of some of the great and democratic States towards journalists. Oftentimes, States, of course, I agree, do harass journalists, and the Committee to Protect Journalists compile annual reports on injured and killed scribes. The United Nations, rightfully so, condemn the harassment of journalists in the strongest possible terms. Developed and democratic States like the USA, UK and France, at some point, had to deal with their journalists.

Before I delve into this subject, I have a brief story to tell.In 2017, I, and then editor of the Times SUNDAY were taken to the High Court of Eswatini where we were interdicted from publishing what was referred to as “top secrets” for the exclusive attention for the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS). I recalled a prior boardroom meeting with the police executives, with Deputy Commissioner Sula Dlamini, in attendance as well, trying to explain why it would jeopardise national security to publish such a sensitive story.

I told them I am going to write the story. In fact, I had written the story. Police did not hesitate as they took me to court where I was cited as Respondent No.2. The High Court ruled in favour of the police. It meant we had been barred from publishing the story. I cannot disclose the moral of the story because the interdict is still valid. Basically, I did not understand why the international community was silent on the issue. In his Facebook post of January 13, 2017, Wander Mkhonza, a senior union executive, praised us for standing for what we believed in, and I was humbled by that post.

My encounter with the police reminds me of Julian Paul Assange, an Australian editor, publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. Assange’s case may be different from mine as he was dealt with by the Department of Justice in the United States. He was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2019 after he had taken refuge there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that was later dropped. He felt the case in Sweden was a carefully calculated ploy to get him extradited to the United States to face an espionage case – a conspiracy case related to one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

The US’s Department of Justice alleged that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.He faced up to five years in US prison if convicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. On June 24, 2024, Assange was released from the London prison on bail and boarded a flight to a US territory in the Pacific to formalise a plea deal. On June 25, 2024, the editor formally pleaded guilty to one count of breaching the Espionage Act and in return is allowed to walk free and return to his native Australia.

The journalist’s stay at the Embassy was equated to a prison term and the only hurdle for him now is his detention record which will obstruct his travel around the world. Established in 1843, the News of the World, which was published every Sunday in the United Kingdom, decided to shut down in 2011 after it had to endure a mountain of journalistic embarrassments. It was the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper. It still had one of the highest English-language circulations in the world at closure. Established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies, the News of the World was dogged by scandals that ruined its 160 years of history.

I was one of its ardent readers. Its closure came amid a major scandal over phone-hacking, juicy fabrications and alleged payments to police officers.Due to public, market and Parliament pressure, former Prime Minister David Cameron called for inquiries into the News of the World's behaviour. I must point to the fact that jurisdictions deal with their journalists differently. To me, I thought the phone-hacking case was illegal and pardonable, but the directors of the newspaper felt they had to close the paper since advertisers were refusing to do business with them. The tabloid was under intense pressure after reports had emerged that it had hacked into the cell phone of missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002.

It deleted messages and gave her parents and police false hope that the girl was still alive. Sadly, Milly had been abducted and murdered. The search for the little one had transfixed Britain at that time. On November 3, 2011, Metropolitan Police reported that they had identified 5 795 victims of the phone hacking who included politicians, celebrities and members of the British royal family. The News of the World would get a story from a two-man conversation. This created mistrust among people as they began to accuse one another of leaking sensitive information. The hacking almost divided the British royal family. 

Police had to take action against the journalists who were responsible for the phone hacking. They were arrested.Clive Goodman is an English journalist, former royal editor and reporter for the News of the World who was arrested in August 2006. Goodman was jailed in January 2007 for intercepting mobile phone messages involving members of the Royal household. Other journalists from the defunct newspapers who were arrested by the UK police included Andy Coulson, Bob Bird, Neville Thurlbeck, Ian Edmondson, Nick Parker, James Weatherup and Lucy Panton.

 In Africa, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest for Kenyan journalist Walter Barasa. The United Nations (UN) calls for the protection of journalists, but the ICC says it has evidence that Barasa attempted to bribe witnesses. According to the charge sheet, the journalist faces three counts of offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing or attempting to corruptly influence three ICC witnesses regarding cases from the situation in Kenya.

10 DISGRACED JOURNALISTS 

Let us now look at unacceptable professional conduct by some journalists around the world. I sourced this information from statements, Washington Post, New York Times, Thought.com, Politico and other media outlets. 

Jayson Blair

 Jayson Blair was a young rising star at The New York Times until, in 2003, the paper discovered he had systematically plagiarised or fabricated information for dozens of articles. In an article detailing Blair's misdeeds, the Times called the scandal "a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper." Blair got the boot.

Jack Kelley

In 2004, star USA Today reporter Jack Kelley quit after editors discovered he had been fabricating information in stories for more than a decade. Acting on an anonymous tip, the paper had launched an investigation that uncovered Kelley's actions.

Stephen Glass

Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American former journalist. He worked for The New Republic from 1995 to 1998 until it was revealed many of his published articles were fabrications. An internal investigation by The New Republic determined the majority of stories he wrote either contained false information or were fictitious.

Juan Thompson

The Intercept, an investigative publication, fired Juan Thompson for alleged faking of quotes around various news events, all of them race-related and highly inflammatory. It was reported that he went as far as creating fake email accounts to impersonate sources.

Gabriela Miranda

USA Today deleted 23 articles from its website after an investigation found that the reporter who wrote them used fabricated sources. Miranda, a breaking news reporter, had to resign from the newspaper.

Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith was a columnist for the Boston Globe who was infamously fired in 1998 for making up sources and completely fabricating stories.

Louis Seibold

In 1921, New York World reporter Louis Seibold won a Pulitzer Prize for an interview he conducted with former USA President Woodrow Wilson. It turned out Wilson was incapacitated because of a stroke. The interview was faked with the help of the president’s wife and chief of staff.       

Christopher Newton

Christopher Newton, a reporter for The Associated Press, was fired in 2002 after the wire service discovered he made up stories for at least 40 of his stories.Most of the fictional sources were supposed subject-matter experts, and worked at real-sounding organisations like the “Education Alliance,” “Voice for the Disabled” and the “Western Alliance For Immigration Rights.”

Janet Cooke

Janet Cooke won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1981 for her Washington Post profile of an eight-year-old heroin addict, “Jimmy’s World.”Jimmy turned out not to exist (although then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry claimed to have located the child). Cooke admitted making up the story after editors at the Toledo Blade — where Cooke had previously worked — noticed she had inflated her resume.

Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter

In 2018, Sunday Times of South Africa parted ways with its celebrated investigative journalists, Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Stephen Hofstatter and return awards it had won for the articles wrote by the two journalists. Sunday Times announced in a piece published in the newspaper that it apologised for the articles. The newspaper said it would return all awards and prize money received for the reports. It accepted that "there was clearly a parallel political project aimed at undermining democratic values and destroying state institutions and removing individuals who were seen as obstacles to this project.” Sunday Times admitted that its stories might have been used for this purpose. Young journalists in the country must learn, and I am learning. 

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