A number of newspapers reported on the sad murder of a prominent figure in August 2009.Sowetan’s article, “Anguish of Murdered [ ]’s wife and son”1 (14/08/09, p. 4), about the murder received a MAD OAT Mad nomination for directly identifying a child witness, the prominent figure...
Sowetan’s article, “Court told how trio robbed Banyana star” (31/07/09, p. 6), received a MAD OAT Mad nomination for contravening Section 154(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act by indirectly identifying a child witness during court proceedings. The article mentioned how the 16-year old witness w...
Sowetan’s article, “I will not pay maintenance” (22/07/09, p. 5), was something to be MAD about. The article received a MAD OAT Mad nomination for contravening the Maintenance Act by indirectly identifying the children in the article and failing to protect their rights to privacy and dignity. ...
The article published in Sunday Sun (28/06/09, p. 6), “Young girl stripped of her womanhood”, is one to get mad about. The article directly identifies a minor whose womb was allegedly removed without her permission, giving graphic details This violates her right to privacy 1and dignity as it...
A MAD OAT Mad nomination is awarded to The Times for its article, “Uncle linked to murder” (18/06/09, p. 61), which identified and interviewed the young sister of a murder victim, soon after her trauma. The article reports how the dead body of the seven-year-old girl, who was raped and murdere...
Saturday Star’s article, “Schoolboys to answer to severe assault charges” (13/06/09, p. 41) is one to get mad about. The article was about a 14-year old boy who was allegedly severely assaulted and robbed on a school bus, after school, by other learners. His mother reported the incident to the...
The Citizen and CNS have violated the rights to dignity and privacy of a teenager who was allegedly assaulted by the police for loitering. The story, titled “Mad over cop hiding” (The Citizen, 29/05/09, p. 81), by news agency CNS, showed a picture of the teenager’s bruised buttocks with h...
Gossip and juicy stories about celebrities may entertain some, but the media need to be especially careful reporting where celebrity’s children are involved Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) is concerned about four stories recently published in Sowetan about two male celebrities who failed to pay ma...
Sowetan (“I saw my step dad rape my cousin”, 16/04/09, p. 8 and “[ ] in maintenance row”, 23/04/09, p. 3) and The Citizen (“Accused of raping his grandchild”, 07/04/09, p. 6)1 shared the MAD OAT Mad nomination this week, for indirectly identifying children who were either wit...