siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za
Ex-MK Military Veterans Association and ANC NEC member Carl Niehaus has accused Newzroom Afrika of censoring him.
According to WhatsApp messages between Niehaus and producer of InFocus with Thabo Mdluli, Niehaus was invited to be part of discussions regarding the recent interdict by the MKMVA veterans to have the high court declare the all inclusive MK unity conference declared null and void.
“After I agreed to participate in the interview, I was suddenly un-invited by an embarrassed producer, who had evidently been instructed by her editors not to have me on the show,” the former ANC spokesperson said in an open letter circulated to the media.
Niehaus also says he was informed by the producer that the reason for the withdrawal was that the convener of the Liberations War Veterans, Dan Hato, who was interviewed earlier by the news channel, was responsible for the cancellation of his interview, which says he was looking forward to partake in and had cancelled other engagements in order to be part of the discussions.
“It transpired that the convener of the so-called Liberation War Veterans Dan Hato was on an earlier show and evidently I would have spoiled his narrative, which the editors wanted to push,” he said.
Niehaus also posted WhatsApp messages between himself and the producer as evidence, saying even though this was not his first encounter with cancellations, this recent one had to be the most painful.
“I have to fight on a daily basis against WMC agents. The most recent example is an invitation that I received yesterday via WhatsApp from Newzroom Afrika to participate in a discussion with Thabo Mdluli on his InFocus actuality show about the urgent MKMVA court interdict against ANC, Niehaus further states.
He also said, the newest television news channel was not the only media house that has in the past shown their lack of objectivity in the country, as most media houses were in the pockets of WMC, accusing other media houses such as eNCA and the SABC of similar tactics.
“Censorship is not only carried out by dictatorial governments. The worst form of censorship comes from privately owned media houses, with vested interests, and who no longer allow objective journalism reporting about the news, but have become active and biased political players serving the interests of their owners, who pay their salaries,” he said.
In one of the messages, the producer informs the struggle veteran that her editors had asked that the interview be parked and done at another time.
“Hi Mr Niehaus. My editor says we should park the conversation for now and reschedule it for another day. I apologised for the inconvenience,” reads the message from the show’s producer who had earlier informed Niehaus of the cancellation.
The screen grabs from Niehaus and the producer’s interaction reveal that Niehaus was then allegedly blacklisted by the channel for reasons that have not been divulged by the producer or by the channel itself.
The Star approached Newzroom Africk’s head of communication, Zamahlasela Gabela who promised to respond to questions sent via email, but the channel had not responded at the time of going to print.