Special Hearings — Media Hearings — 1997-09-15

UNKNOWN: The first extract is from Network programme of November the 5th 1985, 12 years ago.  It's an example of the way that the SABC News Department supported the total onslaught campaign.  In this case it's part of an actuality programme.    "If they succeed in that aim similar installations will be deployed in Southern Zimbabwe.  The air umbrella is linked to a sophisticated network of missiles and aircraft which are said to outnumber the South African Air Force by a ratio of almost two to one."    A recent addition of Armed Forces magazine revealed exact numbers and statistics and compared them with trends in the Middle East. The majority of installations are of a mobile nature and can be easily moved about Angola or Mozambique. The interception radar systems have range capabilities of 300 to 250 km.  They were widely used in Egypt and Vietnam with devastating effect.  Five different types of target acquisition systems have been developed with capabilities ranging from 180 km to..."    "The Republic of South Africa was a vital intermediate link in the process of world conquest and Soviet Russia then used all possible means at its disposal to achieve domination in Southern Africa."    "Over the next 10 years, $10 000 million worth of Soviet equipment was brought into Angola.  The South African Air Force has already engaged the MIG 21 successfully and intelligence indicates the presence of the state of the art, MIG 23, currently employed by the Warsaw Pact and based in the Middle East and Afghanistan"    "For the first time large amounts of sophisticated Soviet equipment outside of the Warsaw Pact countries inside Southern Africa.."    "There was Operation Protea in August 1981 that revealed for the first time the degree of integration of Soviet, Cuban and SWAPO forces under Moscow's command.  But Operation Protea also proved certain facts to the Russians, namely that a very sophisticated air umbrella was required to protect their terrorist launching pad".    "They are using terrorists as weapons and they are harbouring these terrorists in a safe area. And in this safe area where they quite rightly expect the reaction from us, they are providing an air umbrella".    If you can just hold that for a minute before we lose sight of this.  It's a very clever presentation that. Of course it uses all the techniques of documentary, of news reel.  It has an authority that's presenting it.  It's got maps, it points out the different places in the world where world domination is taking place.  They have a clip from a newsreel, from the Soviet propaganda newsreel with the Soviet Army Choir and hugh rockets. Those are frightening images.  And then after that we have the intervention of the head of the South African Air Force who uses all of the terms of cold war speak, total onslaught, Russian arms etc etc, plus rather frightening images of burning houses and then he comes back to the idea - the link between terrorists and the Russians.  But the point that I want to make is that when you examine it closely like we're doing now, we sort of take it to pieces, you understand that there's no context to it. That the argument is in fact extremely weak, it's a very clever piece of propaganda but when you have programmes like that, week in and week out, you cultivate the idea that there is indeed a total onslaught and that there is indeed a Russian threat.  And that's what worries me, that over the years and years, programmes like these began to cultivate a certain sort of mind set.   Now the second, and just hold it for a moment upstairs, the second extract is all in the same programme, we find Louis Nel, the Deputy Minister of Information talking about the reasons why there's a blanket ban on the use of television cameras in townships. Could we have that please.    "The restrictions announced by the Minister of Law and Order, Mr Louis Le Grange at the weekend forbidding local and foreign journalists from filming scenes of unrest has elicited strong international and local reaction. The Foreign Correspondents Association in South Africa has warned that the restrictions are the beginning of the slippery slide toward a totally controlled press.     On the other hand the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Louis Nel, has accused foreign correspondents of ignoring and misrepresenting facts.  Now in the studio tonight to discuss the issue is the chairman of the Foreign Correspondents Association, Mr Edgar Denter, and the Deputy Minister of Information Mr Louis Nel.    Mr Nel how do the new restrictions reconcile with the statement of the President shortly before on Thursday night to the effect of support for freedom of the press?    It's got nothing to do with freedom of the press whatsoever.  Journalists, accredited journalists will report freely from what is happening from these unrest areas and they will report on what is happening in these areas, and there will be no difficulty as far as that is concerned.  In other words no blanket has been placed on what they can report from there.     Now when you say accredited journalists, you're talking about accredited print journalists?    We are talking about accredited print journalists. Their restriction applies to television crews and that has been done for a very specific reason. We have found, the evidence is quite clear that the mere presence of television cameras seem to be or to operate as a catalyst for further violence.  It creates further violence, it spurs on further violence.  And I might say that some of the newspaper articles and leaders that have been written over the past few days, and even those who are very critical of the government and of these restrictions, seem to accept the fact that the mere presence of television crews seem to spur on violence. That's what ...(intervention)"Operating on the principal, if you say something three times everybody will believe you, the Deputy Minister takes away another aspect of freedom of speech, and of course vague references to research overseas which he doesn't substantiate but it's just simply stated, there you are and you believe it.  The final extract, and I beg to remind you that this one goes on quite a long time and I cut it strategically. The final extract of the same episode of Network supports the war psychosis again by using an insert that praises 31 Squadron for no apparent reason, it's simply another programme about war. In it we have impressive images of helicopters rolling out of hangers straight out from Hollywood, the cult of the violence of war, and then quite subtly the argument shifts to images of World War 2 and the part the SA have played in supporting the Poles in Warsaw.  The graphics and the sound effects all remind viewers of the gallant and heroic deeds of the South African airmen.   Then by another clever shift the memory is transferred to the present 31 Squadron but the difference is that 31 Squadron now supports the police in civil operations.  This legitimises the use of the military in enforcing apartheid. We retain the memory of World War 2 and are asked to use the same criteria when judging police and military violence on the border or in townships. And this clip is a very good example of any excuse to show images of the police or military, images of the police medal parades, cadet parades, of freedom of the city being given to regiments, etc.  All of this providing back-up for the idea of a war psychosis.   So if we can see this last image please.    "...sacrifice indeed.  (music and sound effects of flying helicopters). 31 Squadron goes back, the history goes back far beyond the present helicopter squadron.  It goes back to the beginning of 1944 with ...(intervention) ...undertaken in those days.     Mainly night bombing from heights of between 10 and 16 000 feet. We did on numerous occasions we mined up the Danube with magnetic mines which completely stopped the flow of oil from Flueste (?) to Vienna and within retrospect shortened the war in Europe considerably.     We also did supply lifts to partisans but mainly our supply lift was to Warsaw to the home army inside of the city where we had to drop supplies from roof-top height, supplies of canisters containing small arms, ammunition, medical supplies, radio equipment and all the necessities of war.    Did you incur severe casualties?    Our casualties were terribly high, yes, because of the distance, the fact we went singly, we didn't go in a heavy bomber stream, we were victims of the night-fighters of the light flat guns, of the heavy flat guns and even coming low down, hand held weapons were used against us too.    31 Squadron has had a pretty distinctive history in the South African Air Force both flying Liberators in World war 2 and now with     helicopters. What is the relevance of the     squadron, how do you define it?      31 Squadron today is more in the supportive    role, mainly in support of the police, the military, various state departments and civilian organisations ..."  Thank you.    Again it's so easy, such a beautiful sleight of hand to see those wonderful graphics of the SAF doing their thing over Warsaw and you slide it sideways and then you're into helicopters being used in townships and you confuse the two, and it's a technique of propaganda which they manage to use quite well.  Thank you that's my presentation.