In an unprecedented move, the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA) has expelled the South African Jewish Report as a member after the publication refused to obey a recent ruling.

In a press release, the PCSA says the decision was made after lengthy correspondence and the newspaper’s refusal to obey the ruling made against it by Acting Press Ombud, Johan Retief, and the PSCA chair of appeals, judge Bernard Ngoepe.

The issue revolves around an article on the newspaper’s front page about a cartoon that appeared on the South African Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Coalition’s (SA BDS Coalition) Facebook page.

The cartoon was about the labour dispute at Clover SA and allegedly portrays a ‘greedy overweight man eating a pile of money while ‘the man on the street’ is drawn as a small, insignificant figure sitting in front of an empty plate with Clover products filling the rest of the frame.’

The newspaper published an article where it claimed that SA BDS Coalition showed its ‘true colours’ when using ‘what looks like an antisemitic’ cartoon and wording on its Facebook account.

In a report by the ombudsman, it states that the cartoon was accompanied by text including the phrases “Greedy bosses connected to apartheid Israel… Every reason to boycott Clover…”

The findings against the newspaper were made on complaints by SA BDS Coalition that they were wrongly labelled as anti-Semites and that the headline was misleading.

In his finding Retief says that although opposing sides could motivate the interpreting of the cartoon and wording as antisemitic or not, the issue revolves around editorial opinion published as fact in a news report and headline.

“The headline should have made clear it was an opinion not fact but instead it was published as hard news on the front page,” Retief finds.

The ruling ordered that the newspaper apologise to SA BDS for portraying its opinion that the cartoon was antisemitic as fact and thus labelling them as anti-Semitic.

The newspaper was ordered to publish an apology, in the form of a teaser, on the front page containing the words ‘apology/apologises’ and ‘SA BDS Council’ with a continuation on an inside page with reference to the complaints.

An apology was also to be posted online, at the top of the page, with a link to an apology article.

Judge Phillip Levinsohn, Press Council Chairman, says an appeal against the finding by the newspaper was dismissed.

“We spent time and effort corresponding with the SA Jewish Report to resolve the issue. They then refused to publish the ruling against them. SA Jewish Report also abandoned a second complaint, SA BDS Coalition vs SA Jewish Report, after losing another application for leave to appeal by Judge Ngoepe,” says Levinsohn.

“The SA Jewish Report then attempted to withdraw from the Press Council rather than publish the rulings. You cannot do that.

“It is a great pity that we have had to expel them, but we cannot tolerate a member of the press council wilfully refusing to obey rulings of the press ombud and the chair of appeals,” says Levinsohn.

“The press council is a voluntary, co-regulatory, public-dominated body which, inter alia, mediates and adjudicates complaints against its members in terms of the Press Code.

“It is there to ensure ethical, fair, journalism. Those who join the PCSA commit to being bound by, and to publish, rulings of the press ombud and the press council’s appeals bodies. Parties who are dissatisfied with press ombud’s rulings have the right to take them on appeal to our appeals panel, headed by an eminent, retired judge, and if still unhappy can take the process on judicial review.

“What our member publications cannot do is simply refuse to publish rulings against them. Compliance by members is essential. To refuse undermines the press council and is unfair to the complainants,” says Levinsohn.

See PCSA rulings here.