'Reclaim debate from the media'
2007-09-18 14:54
Johannesburg - Part of the struggle the revolution was facing was to reclaim debate from the media, SA Communist Party secretary general Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.
"...a much more serious challenge is how we reclaim our internal debate to ourselves and stop the trend of outsourcing internal debate to the media," Nzimande said addressing Cosatu's central committee meeting in Kempton Park.
Nzimande launched a scathing attack on the media saying the City Press had become "nothing but a product of the 1996 class project".
He added that the Mail and Guardian had become a "pale shadow of it's past" and said it was "difficult to watch" an SABC news bulletin now.
However he said: "We must also take the blame."
"We ourselves have used these papers to try and argue positions defeated in ordinary constitutional structures."
Nzimande added that it is going to be very important for the working class to "lead a debate" and reflect on the role of the media in our democracy.
- SAPA