TOM EATON: Journalists’ weaknesses make them vulnerable to lies and whispers
As the Sunday Times apologises for disseminating false narratives and SA journalism calls for self-reflection and self-correction, many local journalists and columnists are no doubt asking themselves the same unnerving question: have I been someone’s stooge? At least that’s what I was asking myself last week, thinking back over the years I’ve been a columnist and wondering if I’d ever submitted propaganda instead of my own opinion. I concede that to some they are the same thing. I have been described by foam-flecked Marxists as a cheerleader for white supremacy, while there are a few slabs of raw meat on the far right who insist that I’m part of a Judeo-Rooinek liberal cabal hell-bent on bringing communism, Satanism and the 19th century to SA. I also know how silly it is to claim that my opinions are truly my own, given that everyone’s opinion is simply a curated collection of other people’s opinions. Still, I like to think that some of my notions are homespun, and so I wondered: ha...
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