Editors are not above the law and should be "chastised" when they feed
the public with rumours, says Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, writes Wendy Jasson da Costa in The Star.
During question time in the National Assembly yesterday, she said it was a case of double standards if the public did not hold editors to account when they published stories that were blatantly untrue.
Mlambo-Ngcuka was responding to questions about media freedom, particularly relating to the Sunday Times, which has been under fire for its revelations about Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
The newspaper recently reported that its editor, Mondli Makhanya, and deputy managing editor, Jocelyn Maker, faced imminent arrest after it reported that Tshabalala-Msimang had consumed liquor and behaved badly towards medical staff during two stays at the Cape Town Medi-Clinic in 2005.
Yesterday, Mlambo-Ngcuka dismissed stories of their arrest as rumours.
Click here to read the full report, posted on The Star's website (subscription required).ÂÂÂ
