​The Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media, effective from 30 September 2020, described how the media is guided at all times by the public interest, understood to describe information of legitimate interest or importance to citizens. This statement implies that the content of news reports should be in the interest of the wider public. It includes matters such as impartiality, objectivity, balance, bias, truthfulness and accuracy and the truth – when it comes to news reports. It also means that both sides of the story should be provided to allow the news consumer to conclude on the matter.

​In a nutshell, it is about the importance that journalists should do the right thing when it comes to news reporting. It is important that news reporters should think critically and gain a deeper understanding of ethical principles. News reporters should verify facts and make sure that the sources of information are credible, otherwise the news report will be in jeopardy. It is the duty of a journalist to seek out the truth. Most importantly, a news reporter should not get too involved in the story or the  news informants.

​The impact of the media on public perception is massive. The media could prompt the news consumer to react in a certain way, influence individual views and beliefs, or increase a person’s knowledge. It can also reinforce or destroy an existing belief. The intentional spread of fake news, masked as news in the interest of the public, has escalated over the years, advancing a hidden agenda or generating advertorial revenues. False statements have become ‘alternative facts’, and the news industry has reached a new low now. Consumers simply can no longer trust the media, and the media should work harder to regain their trust.
We will continue to explore and demonstrate all the elements of ethical journalism in future articles.  

THE CASE OF KWASIZABANTU MISSION
KwaSizabantu has been more than once on the receiving end of smear campaigns which turned into media onslaughts. The News24 coverage about them is a good case to use to expose the perils of disinformation. The most obvious tactic that the media used to destroy the Mission’s reputation, is that of labelling. In short, the Mission was labelled in the media as a cult where children are abused and women raped. The founder, Rev Erlo Stegen, was labelled as a cult leader. However, no unquestionable evidence was provided of any of the allegations they published about the Mission and its founder. The media repeated the same labels over and over again on different media outlets, and that in itself is a red flag. The investigative magazine, Noseweek, suggested that the editor-in-chief of News24 had an agenda in his coverage of the allegations due to the extraordinary amount of news reports on the Mission and the continuous repeat of the stories. (Follow the link: https://digital.lib.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.2/16942/noseweek250.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=z)
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 The book, A Journey to the Truth, the Case of KwaSizabantu, describes all of the elements of a smear campaign which got the media involved in labelling KwaSizabantu. Context is very important so the news consumer can conclude and not be dragged into the perception or the truth of the news reporter. KwaSizabantu has been mistreated by the mainstream media tremendously when the context of their work was excluded. How they contribute to the community’s well-being was also excluded and this information is readily available on their official website, www.ksb.org . This way, the Mission was framed as a bad place with no good qualities. The media also omitted very critical information which they had readily available when they wrote about the false allegations.
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NOTE: The writer of the article, Gerda Potgieter, published a book, A Journey to The Truth, the case of KwaSizabantu Mission. Gerda is a seasoned communicator and exposed unethical journalism in the book after researching unethical media practices, with specific references to the case of the Christian Mission. This series demonstrates how news consumers should be on the lookout for the red flags of unethical journalism. Journalists and future news reporters can learn from the series. The book is available on Amazon: eBook - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC2V989F The book can also be bought from Christian Liberty Books in Cape Town.
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​Should mainstream, secular media ridicule Christianity? What does ridiculing a Christian organisation or religious person have to do with the persecution of Christians? Is there a link between an irrational hatred for Christians and Christianity and a campaign in the media to ridicule and smear them? We explore these questions in this article.
CH Spurgeon once said, "The more prominent you are in Christ's service, the more certain are you to be the butt of calumny.  I have long ago said farewell to my character.  I lost it in the early days of my ministry by being a little more zealous than suited to a slumbering age.  And I have never been able to regain it except in the sight of Him who judges all the earth, and in the hearts of those who love me for my work's sake."

Many Christians and Christian organisations will agree with Spurgeon and countless have stories to tell about how secular media ridicule Christians and Christianity. Two good examples are the articles which were published by News24 (links below). News24 also launched an attack on the KwaSizabantu Mission and these attacks were exposed by Noseweek in the video series, REVELATION: How News24 got it wrong. It is also demonstrated in the book, A Journey to the Truth: The Case of KwaSizabantu Mission.

​MEDIA ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANITY
There are different kinds of persecution. One kind (direct) refers to the explicit killing, kidnapping, or execution of people for their faith. It includes instances where churches and Christian symbols are destroyed, among other horrible acts.
Indirect persecution includes actions such as harassment, intimidation, shunning by friends or family opposed to the gospel, blasphemy, and mocking of Christianity. But there is another dangerous kind, the silent (indirect) and less obvious one, disguised as culture and modernity or progress. It includes media misrepresentation of Christian organisations and news articles that spread disinformation about Christian individuals, groups, or Christianity as a whole. 

A smear campaign or simply smear in the media is one example of negative propaganda that the secular media sometimes uses to discredit Christians or a Christian organisation. These tactics are commonly used to undermine effective arguments. And there is a huge concern about how religion and belief are portrayed by mainstream media.
The media is a consumer-driven industry. It has a huge reach in society and is a key filter through which consumers learn about other people, cultures, religions, and beliefs. Mass media plays a definite role in shaping collective identities and intergroup attitudes. By typecasting them or, in other words, assigning a value of a certain type to another type, they distort the picture that audiences see of different groups or individuals. 

There is enough evidence to suggest skewed media representations promote public hostility toward a certain group. Missionaries, for instance, are a people group regularly targeted by secular media and often labelled cults because they either look, speak, or act differently from the rest of the secular world. 

​Social media platforms are just some of the effective tools used by people with agendas to spread false news at the speed of light about Christians and Christian organisations in their efforts to discredit the largest faith on earth. Critics of Christianity use and elaborate on stories (many times false) of corruption, abuse, violence, and countless other negative practices to try and discredit Christians in general and ultimately the Christian faith.
Many Christian organisations have been attacked in recent times, and you can read about it elsewhere in this issue. The KwaSizabantu Mission is but one example of a Christian organisation which became a target of media abuse. Studying this case provides me with the opportunity to use it as an example to prove my point about the persecution of Christianity in general.

​THE KWASIZABANTU CASE
Following an extensive onslaught by News24, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission) started investigating the allegations in November 2020. On 13 July 2023, the Commission released its findings and found that in terms of the church’s doctrines and cults’ practices, “the teachings, principles, rules, (doctrines) of the Mission are within the scope of freedom of religion.”  The chairperson, Prof Mosoma, also said during the press conference when the findings were released, that KwaSizabantu displays no qualities of a cult and that the media abused the word ‘cult’. Read more about the CRL’s findings in Issue 38 of Devoted by following the link: https://online.pubhtml5.com/asxvv/ddze/
It is no secret that some individuals and churches fail to represent the life of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.  We all had bad experiences with so-called Christians who did not walk the talk. But that does not mean the entire Christian faith should be questioned, ridiculed, or attacked.

In a world where misinformation and bias can sway public opinion, it is crucial to scrutinise how religious groups are portrayed in the media. We must continue to advocate for fair and accurate representation. At Devoted, we will do our part by continuing to share uplifting stories about Christians and Christian organisations with the world. The media should aim to work for greater religious literacy and foster a better understanding and representation of all religions in media coverage.
NOTE: The writer of the article, Gerda Potgieter,  released a book, A Journey to The Truth, the case of KwaSizabantu Mission. Gerda is a seasoned communicator and exposed unethical journalism in the book after researching unethical media practices, with specific references to the case of the Christian Mission. This series demonstrates how news consumers should be on the lookout for the red flags of unethical journalism. Journalists and future news reporters can learn from the series. The book is available on Amazon: eBook - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC2V989F The book can also be bought from Christian Liberty Books in Cape Town.
(LINKS: https://www.news24.com/news24/is-it-fair-to-ridicule-what-christians-believe-20141118

​Written by:
​Gerda Potgieter
[email protected]
​021 689 4400

​Editors should avoid meaningless puns, clever wordplay,  emotive words, and – most importantly – sensationalism. News headlines can make or break a business or ruin the reputation of innocent people. Using subjective terms in headlines and in news reports such as in the attached illustration and request for a boycott, is unethical because it shows bias.
The Bill of Rights, as contained in the Constitution, protects, among others, human dignity and religion. Defamation violates a person’s dignity and religion. In South African law defamation is committed whenever a person publishes a defamatory statement about a living person and it refers to any statement that tends to lower the standing of another person in the eyes of ‘right-thinking’ people.  It is not only the person who originated the defamation that could be in trouble but also anyone who subsequently repeats it or shares it – especially on social media platforms.

Naming and shaming is one tactic that is popular among activists, lobby groups and the mainstream secular media to defame Christian organisations and Christian leaders.  Stereotyping or looking into a particular group and portraying them as if they are alike and share certain qualities does not have a place in ethical journalism. A good example is to frame a religious organisation as a ‘cult’.  It is a highly emotive word that mainly implies acts of wickedness, brainwashing, mind control, captivity, abuse, and a wide range of other atrocities. 
This word is in general used to defame people or Christian organisations – mostly without good reason. The word is laden with prejudice which may negatively affect the group or individual belonging to the group.
Dressing or behaving differently, wearing no make-up or jewellery, or practising religion different from what you are used to, is not evidence that a group is cultic. It is irresponsible to label an entire community based on such meaningless qualities. This is a word that should not be used loosely because of its derogatory connotation.

​The case of KwaSizabantu Mission
The  KwaSizabantu Mission was labelled by News24 as a cult, despite the fact that there is not any sign of deviant or exclusive teachings in their confessions of faith. Furthermore, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission) has found no grounds for the allegations that KwaSizabantu is a cult and claimed that the media abuse the term ‘cult’.  Promoted by the media onslaught on them, and after an almost three-year investigation into the Mission’s practices, the CRL found the teachings, practices, principles, rules and doctrine of the Mission are within the scope of freedom of religion as per Section 15 and  Section 31 of the Constitution.
Will the Mission ever clear its name and restore the damage done to its image? How do you prove something that did not happen? How do you get the truth through to a wide audience that believes all they read in newspapers?  A good beginning is to educate the masses with an article such as this one that is aimed at educating the public about the red flags of unethical journalism.