SECTOR 4 4.5 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt South African journalists were generally considered to be ethical, credible and trustworthy, particularly those working in the print media. ‘In general, journalists are pretty honest and don’t succumb to “brown envelope” corruption.’ ‘There are just a handful of people in the media with little integrity and who are quite corrupt.’ Motoring journalists were noted for taking ‘freebies’ (such as the free use of cars) from vehicle companies in return for positive reports. Some media houses had codes of ethics, which prescribed, for example, the policies around gifts, but whether these policies were practised across the board was questionable. ‘Most media houses have “freebie” policies, whereby journalists are not allowed to accept gifts of more than 300 ZAR [21 USD]. Previously, this was 50 ZAR [3 USD]. “Soft news” journalists do tend to pocket freebies, such as cell phones, and this is a blight on our media.’ amaBhungane has a strict no-freebie policy and refused a trip to the Wild Coast offered by the South African Social Security Agency when it was embroiled in the Cash Paymaster Services scandal in 2017. It was also noted that print publications do not always make a clear distinction between an advertorial and hard news, and it is not always clear whether travel stories, for example, were sponsored trips. ‘You generally don’t read bad travel reviews.’ In addition, those who have been found guilty of printing erroneous information by the Press Council’s Press Ombudsman and have been ordered to publish apologies, have done so. Mention was made of a 2015 incident involving the Sunday Times publishing a full-page retraction following an ‘unfair article it published on an alleged “rogue spy unit” within SARS [South African Revenue Service]’. While this is positive, it was noted that the the incorrect versions are often still available online, which was considered a problem. In terms of media houses, the ANN7 and The New Age (both now defunct) were highlighted as being problematic with regard to corruption, while the SABC was noted for largely having dealt with significant issues of corruption in recent years. It was, however, claimed that ‘it’s well known that if you want to broadcast a “soapie” on the SABC, you have to bribe someone...the board is aware of this problem’. 55 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018