Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
20 August 2025 | 14:24 CAT

📸 The pursuit of truth in journalism comes under scrutiny as activists question media independence amid Israeli-funded junket revelations.

As the war on Gaza rages, questions are being raised closer to home about the independence of South African journalism. Veteran activist and journalist Hassan Lorgat has lodged a formal complaint against three major media houses, accusing them of failing to disclose that their editors and reporters participated in Israeli-funded junket trips.

Lorgat argues that these trips undermine public trust and press freedom. “When you pay for the trip, you actually pay for the thinking,” he said, warning that such sponsorships amount to covert propaganda.

The activist detailed how The Sunday Times, The Citizen and Business News ran stories featuring identical interviewees after these trips, raising red flags of coordinated messaging. “Three senior editors with 90 years’ combined experience don’t just make the same mistake. This was deliberate,” Lorgat stressed.

He was particularly critical of The Sunday Times, accusing the paper of avoiding accountability. “They’ve slid far from being the people’s newspaper,” he said, highlighting an editorial written a month after the Hamas attacks which argued it was time to “move on” from Gaza. “That was weeks before South Africa took Israel to the ICJ over genocide. To call for neutrality in that moment is a moral failure,” Lorgat added.

Central to his complaint is the issue of false balance in reporting. “In the height of a genocide, you don’t ask the rapist why he did it while the victim lies in silence. That is not balance, it’s propaganda,” he argued, pointing to the absence of Gazan voices in much of the coverage.

Lorgat has called for an independent inquiry into media ethics and credibility, similar to the one held five years ago. “Journalists say they are the fourth estate. But if they weaken themselves by taking junkets, they can’t hold politicians accountable,” he warned, noting that politicians, too, have accepted expensive trips to Israel with little scrutiny.

There has, however, been some movement. The Citizen has since confirmed it will no longer send staff on sponsored trips to Israel. Activists welcomed this step, but Lorgat insists that broader reform is needed. “The numbers are not a criteria for genocide. What matters is intent and South African journalism must stop hiding behind excuses.”

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Hassan Lorgat.