Media must clean up its rot before pointing fingers

WHEN did the media become the moral judge of what's acceptable behaviour for citizens, especially on sexual matters?

The last time I worked in the local industry it was infested with personalities who didn't qualify to even discuss the topic because of the worst sexual harassment cases and sexual demands on women journalists in some South African media houses.

I've always been afraid of being raped, not by a stranger on assignments but the same photographer, cameraman or boss I may be working with.

I'm disgusted that explicit sexual pictures were published in this newspaper and the argument being moral high ground on the part of the media. What double-standards?

But perhaps the pictures were mainly for the amusement of my male colleagues and served as a reminder of their conquests because, as a reader, I'm still struggling to find a public interest angle of publishing such material, especially during Women's Month.

In this country, a woman is raped every three minutes. Did our moral prosecutors - journalists and editors - bother to ask the woman in the pictures if it was indeed consensual sex?

As a reservist, was she not promised a job for sex like many, including in the media industry?

I can't help but remember hurtful experiences that led me to cut my career short as a great local print journalist; repeated sexual harassment by a respected photographer and happily married man and a news editor who preferred to rub my thighs first instead of checking my copy.

I've got sworn enemies to this day who were angered by the fact that one man was later fired. Why did I speak out? Truth is I didn't. I became hysterical when both of us were assigned to yet another faraway trip and that led to the matter being discussed and more than seven other women coming forward.

Some cameramen in broadcast media have kicked my hotel doors open on stories, while company resources to perform my job had been withheld; all demanding sex.

Who do you report to when the one in authority tells you "hey maNhlapo you're fit", flicking his tongue right in front of you, saying "I'm not that old".

Who do you run to when the next in charge had been caught with his pants down in his office?

I left that local television channel. And the sex pests are still happily employed.

The story that should be headline news is why there are no women newspaper editors and TV heads of news, especially black women.

A study by Sanef once revealed that 46percent of the population in this country is composed of black women, but only 18percent of those are in newsrooms.

If 70percent of black women in the media are employed at the semi-skilled level, earning 25percent less than everybody else, which means black women are still the furthest down the ladder. Are we surprised by what's published or not published in the media?

I don't know the circumstances behind the sexual video. Until I get the full story, I reserve my judgment. Had a photographer filmed himself with me locked inside a car - his hands groping my private parts - the pictures were going to look really good and convincing. As a woman who happens to be a journalist, I survive by luck.

As the saying goes, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, and before pointing a finger to civil servants, please clean media houses: the rot stinks.

- Thuli Nhlapo is a TV producer on ABC News (US). She writes in her personal capacity.