Ombudsman finds Weekend Argus in serious breach of press code in story about suspension of Parliament's Head of Security
The Press Ombudsman has found the Weekend Argus to have committed a “serious breach” of the Press Code following a story in November titled “Labour Court puts parliamentary chief’s suspension on hold.”
It the article, the Weekend Argus claimed that Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker of the Labour Court, had “instructed” Parliament to “hold fire” and not to proceed with any disciplinary proceedings against the head of Parliament Protection Services, Ms Zelda Holtzman, until she (the judge) had been furnished with a CCMA ruling.
The article also claimed that Ms Holtzman’s suspension came as a result of an alleged burglary at the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) offices.
Parliament lodged a complaint with the Press Ombudsman arguing that both statements were incorrect, inaccurate and unfair.
In his finding, the Ombudsman noted that “the journalist needs to convince me that the use of the word “instructed” was correct.”
“I have not received any explanation, let alone a reasonable one, which leaves me with only one option, which is to accept [Parliament’s] version and to conclude that the journalist was not justified in using the word “instructed.”
The article also incorrectly stated, “Holtzman… [was] placed on cautionary suspension on July 30 following an alleged burglary at the EFF’s parliamentary offices…”
The Ombudsman found that “[Zenzile] Khoisan’s [reporting on the matter of Ms Holtzman’s suspension] left no reasonable doubt that Holtzman was suspended as a result of the alleged EFF burglary. This phrasing was misleading.”
The Weekend Argus, in its submission to the Ombudsman claimed to have “corrected” the offending text. Parliament objected stating that the "correction" was still incorrect.
“Given the lack of any kind of reasonable explanation as to the use of the word “instructed”, I need to conclude that both the original headline and the “corrected” one were inaccurate and misleading as well” the Ombudsman said in his finding.
The Weekend Argus was reprimanded for breaching Section 2.1 of the Press Code which states, “The press shall take care to report news truthfully, accurately and fairly.”
A correction ordered by the Ombudsman was published in the Weekend Argus on Saturday. The full finding is available on Parliament’s and the Press Council websites.
Read more: Ruling by the Press Ombudsman
