THE SOUTH African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has condemned the robbery of Newzroom Afrika journalists, while they were out on a story in East London.
The team was robbed on Friday while they were live on air.
“Our Eastern Cape reporter and camera operator were robbed of all their belongings. They were live on air, while robbers broke into the news vehicle, stole equipment and their bags with all their clothing and personal goods inside,” Newzroom Afrika news director, Katy Katopodis, said.
This followed a recent incident in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where an eNCA crew was threatened and robbed.
The Newzroom Afrika crew was robbed near the ANC’s offices.
“Sanef condemns this criminality and calls on law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute these criminals. The psychological impact such crimes have on reporting crews, or any worker for that matter, cannot be underestimated as the scars remain,” Sanef said.
It added it had seen how volatile it had become for news crews to do their jobs.
“The safety of journalists is paramount to Sanef. We will be seeking ways to best protect our news crews in the field.”
Sanef said the latest incident, among many others, was of great concern, as it continued to find ways of training crews when they went out to cover stories.
“Such training would largely focus on the safety of journalists and what to do when they go out to cover any story, riots, unrest, service-delivery protests and political rallies.”
It added that it appreciated South Africans who had come to understand the work the media did and called on the community to report criminals who continued to steal, threaten, bully and prevent the media from doing its work.
