Independent Newspapers Will be running a special feature on the ANC centenary in January 2012. The feature will be carried on 6 of their newspapers. They have sent out letters to prospective advertisers inviting them to take part in the themed party.

The main reason for newspapers to run these themed special features is to maximize revenue. That is where it ends. That the publicity from the feature benefits whoever is being featured is secondary for the newspaper. Neither do people take the feature as an endorsement of such an organisation by the newspaper. Everyone knows its paid advertising and this arrangement has been in practice for years, without any complaints.

For Western Cape Premier and DA Leader, Helen Zille to attack the Independent Newspapers for taking advantage of a commercial opportunity in their normal cause of conducting their business is horrifying to say the least.

Ms Zille seems to think the media, INL in this instance, should not carry ANC material even paid for material because in her view the ANC is trying to suppress free press. Ms Zille, are you not advocating censorship yourself? 

Newspapers are independent to carry stories as they see fit and to publish advertising as they see fit. It is not for Zille, or anyone else to dictate to the newspapers. She is just so used to the media carrying glossy endorsements of her own party and always against the ANC. If she can accept that then she must accept that the opposite can occur. As long as it is all done within the rule of law.

This must be a very painful revelation for Zille and her party that the media is not at all loyal to her and her agenda primarily but they are more loyal to profits than anything else.

This is the same Zille who cried foul play (correctly so) when Cabinet Spokesperson suggested that Government might not in the future feel obliged to advertise in newspapers that only carried negative stories about Government. What Zille is saying now is the same as what Manyi was saying. You just can’t censor someone simply because you disagree with them. 

She even goes as far as lambasting the Independent Newspapers for suggesting in their advertiser invitation that the ANC might go for another 100. INL never claimed this to be a fact and Zille can not claim to know that the ANC will not go another 100.

It is of course understandable that Zille would not like to see such publicity for the ruling party but she needs to find credible and fair ways to counter and limit such publicity. Otherwise she runs the risk of her supporters not seeing the difference between her and the people she opposes.

Her planned complaint to the Press Ombuds will be such a waste of money and time that can be better used to look into valid complaints that impact people’s lives. But she has the right to file that complaint if she feels aggrieved. It is a right earned through the blood of my brothers and sisters (literally) and it is a right I myself will die to make sure she continues to have.