Newspaper hopes to retain journalist
2012-12-18 16:02
Cyril Ramaphosa buy now
Johannesburg – Following the resignation of an
Independent Newspapers political editor, the company is trying to “get to the
bottom” of what had happened.
Gaye Davis announced her resignation after a report was
published in The Star that businessman Cyril Ramaphosa had refused a nomination
to be ANC deputy president.
Editor-in-Chief of Independent Newspapers: Cape, Chris
Whitfield, said the company was aware of the resignation and trying to
understand what had happened.
'Communication lapse'
"It seems there was a communication lapse in this
process and the editor of The Star wasn't fully appraised of Gaye's concern
about the story. At the moment we are trying to get to the bottom of how that
happened," Whitfield said.
He said the company had not wanted Davis to resign and
hoped to convince her to change her mind.
On Tuesday Davis said: "I had no hand in writing the
story."
"I did, however, early on Sunday evening, get confirmation
from Mr Ramaphosa that - contrary to what the article was stating - he had
accepted and signed his nomination form," she said in a statement sent to
Sapa.
Davis was stepping down to "publicly
disassociate" herself from The Star's article.
"Ethically, I believe I cannot publicly distance
myself from the story while remaining in the employ of Independent
Newspapers."
Credibility
Davis believed resigning was necessary to protect her
credibility as a journalist.
She told the writer of the article that Ramaphosa had
confirmed he was still in the running, but was told The Star was standing by
their story, but that other editors in the group could make their own
judgements.
"I communicated with the other morning newspaper
editors in the group, who took appropriate action and did not run the story in
its original form," Davis said.
Davis had been group deputy political editor since
October 2008. She said she contacted Ramaphosa and personally informed him of
her decision to resign.
- SAPA
