The SA National Editor’s Forum has called on the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) to use official complaint channels instead of calling for a boycott of all Tiso Blackstar newspapers.
Speaking to TimesLIVE‚ Sanef media freedom chairman Sam Mkokeli said the church could contact the Press Ombudsman to lay a complaint or take legal action over a story published in the Sunday World which has angered the church.
The church‚ which is believed to have 16 million congregants‚ called for a boycott of Tiso Blackstar titles following a story about church leader Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane.
Sunday World reported that a ZCC branch in Botswana is planning on heading to the High Court in that country after Lekganyane and the church allegedly violated an interim order they obtained on July 17 which prevented the church and its Botswana leaders from merging their branches.
The church claims the story makes a mockery of the organisation.
“On its own a total consumer boycott is not wrong or illegal but we have institutions and we also have processes that have proven successful over the years. We call on the church to go to the press ombudsman or to go to court so that these issues can be looked at properly‚” said Mkokeli.
Tiso Blackstar deputy managing director Moshoeshoe Monare said the company was speaking to the church directly in an attempt to resolve the issue.
“We are not engaging ZCC through the media but we are directly engaging with them to establish what their concerns are and secondly‚ to ensure that at the end of the day‚ the whole thing is resolved amicably‚” he said.
Tiso Blackstar group owns a number of publications including The Times‚ Sunday Times‚ The Daily Dispatch‚ Business Day‚ Sowetan and The Herald.
By: Neo Goba – TimesLIVE
Source: TMG Digital.