A+high+five+to+St+John,+Karen+Bliksem,+Sunday+Independent

Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, March 04, 2007 //Edition 1//
=A high five to St John, canonised by the SABC as the patron saint of hacks=

//Out of Africa,// **Karen Bliksem**

Given that I am merely a humble columnist, a sort of fawning Pumblechook of the print media, I would not really know in any definitive, Aristotelian sense - but I do think, I believe I may tentatively venture the opinion, that it is pretty tough being, or trying to be, a real journalist.

By "real journalist", I mean someone who - notwithstanding the fickle fingers of fate, environment (nurture), genes (nature) and designer jeans - at least tries to abide in his or her journalistic endeavours by the Latin saying audi alteram partem, which means, literally, hear the other side and is generally interpreted in English as hear both sides.

I was cogitating on this matter because I couldn't help overhearing one Jeremy "Bubbles" Gordin, a colleague from the hard news side of this business, yelping about the difficulties, as related to journalism, of the audi alteram partem principle.

He was referring specifically to having to write a story about a rather elegant gentleman by the name of Ismail Ayob.

Ayob, as you may know, was Nelson Mandela's attorney for more than 30 years, but a few years ago fell out of that friendship - or may have been pushed - and therefore ended up at legal war with two of his fellow Nelson Mandela Trust trustees, George "the hero of Marathon" Bizos, SC, and Wim "Msimang" Trengove, SC.

"Trouble is," I overheard Gordin saying, as he swayed over a really bad cup of instant coffee (read: chicory) and even worse cigarette in the smoking room, "the trouble is that maybe Ayob has been treated a bit roughly.

"But to write this means having to hear both sides of the story, which is a real balls-ache, and then possibly to go up against Saint Nelson - not to mention Bizos and Trengove.

"It would be far, far easier to join a multitude in doing evil - as I think the Bible somewhere encourages us NOT to do - and simply write the story from a one-sided perspective, and join everyone else in kicking Ayob in the unmentionables, especially when he's down."

"The trouble with you, Gordin [or 'Precious', as she sometimes calls him, when he gives her sweeties]," replied Karyn Maughan, one of our more sprightly colleagues from The Star - she brings the average age on the newsroom floor down to 47 - "is that you are in the wrong business.

"Consider whom you are writing about continually, and with tedious monotony: Jacob Zuma, Schabir Shaik, Ranjeni Munusamy, other Shaiks, French arms dealers - and now Ismail Ayob.

"What does that tell you? That you ought not to be in journalism at all, but should be running a support group for all the people South Africans most love to hate."

And then young Maughan went tripping off down the scuffed and grubby linoleum in her scuffed jeans and fake Manolo Blahniks.

But, if Gordin is having a tough time just doing his job, one person who clearly did not is John Perlman, known in this column as Perlperson, who hosted AM Live, the SABC talk radio show, for nine years.

He ran into a spot of bother telling the truth on air - remember that when it comes to those who sign your pay cheques, they are not so interested in audi alteram partem - was asked to apologise, refused, and then decided it was maybe a good time to hit the road, Jack (or Snuki, as the case may be).

But what's that line about "nothing became his life so much as the leaving of it"? If John's not careful, people are going to be saying that "nothing became his show so much as his leaving of it".

"Harrumph," grunted a fellow hack (hack number one) to me on Friday, "the way things are going with Perlman, he will soon join the small but illustrious band of Jews to be canonised by the Catholic church as St John, Patron Saint of Hacks."

"Be fair," said another (hack number two). "Perlman may not be a tall fellow but even he - who is, I think, strong enough to carry the weight of considerable adulation - must find himself a little burdened by today's orgiastic outpouring of love."

They were both referring of course to the tribute to John Perlman that appeared in the Mail & Guardian on Friday - sponsored by many in the media (and from elsewhere), whose names proudly appear appended to the full-page tribute. The problem is that, unless my spectacles are not working, there is not one name there from Independent Newspapers, on at least two of whose publications Perlman spent a great deal of his working life.

And the reason for this is that it would appear that no one took the trouble to send the tribute in our (Independent's) direction. Or, as hack number two put it: "And, also, we at Independent were never notified about the M & G paid-for ad-cum-hagiography. So we never got the chance to give John the finger."

In short, if you turn down the volume on the somewhat hackish/laddish humour, you will understand that we were all a bit hurt - and felt badly left out - that we were not able to bid Perlperson some fond words of support.

The sports guys were especially hurt. After all, given that sport, especially soccer, seemed to have been his first journalistic love, Perlperson did some of his best work for them - "What thou lovest well remains/ The rest is dross,/ What thou lovest well shall not be reft from thee/ What thou lovest well is thy true heritage," as Ezra Pound once jotted down.

In short, what everyone here also really wanted to say was: "Go well, John. Don't worry about the SABC; we've seen 'em come and we've seen 'em go. We'll have a beer some time.

"Be careful that, as you leave, the door doesn't whack you in the arse. And thanks for your time."


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3713102**

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