Sekunjalo has slammed a recent News24 article as another attempt to smear and undermine Sekunjalo, Independent Media and its Chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé.
Sekunjalo has hit back at a recent article published by News24, produced by Nick Wilson, Jan Cronje, Jeff Wicks, Adriaan Basson and Helena Wasserman titled “Inside Iqbal Survé’s glitchy propaganda machine: Goebbels, AI and slippery writers.”
“The article is yet another attempt to smear and undermine Sekunjalo, Independent Media and its Chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé. The allegations, relying on innuendo and lacking any concrete evidence, are dismissed outright by Sekunjalo,” a statement by Sekunjalo said.
“We categorically reject the baseless and preposterous claims made by News24 that Independent Media opinion writers are part of a 'PR' campaign for Sekunjalo or our chairman.
“This accusation is part of a long-standing disinformation and smear campaign that News24 and our competitors have been running against our company for years,“ the statement added.
Sekunjalo said that if News24's claims were to be believed, we should also assume that Naspers, the holding company of Media24 and News24, is using all of its opinion writers and journalists as PR agents.
“Sekunjalo would like to emphasise that if such a practise is common at Naspers and Media24, we do not engage in such unethical conduct.
Apart from having a common executive chairperson and being a shareholder in Independent Media, Sekunjalo has no further involvement with the editorial decisions of Independent Media, and conversely, Independent Media has no involvement in communication-related activities of Sekunjalo, it said.
“We also reject the unsubstantiated and unproven allegation that a former staffer claimed Dr Survé has established a supposed "communications war room“ tasked with "finding dirt" on the country’s biggest banks. This claim, attributed to an anonymous source, is an outright lie and propaganda designed to agitate and influence the current relationship between Sekunjalo and the banks, which have closed our accounts without justification.
“The conduct is consistent with the ongoing disinformation and smear campaign perpetrated by News24 and our competitors.
“The propaganda piece by News24 is a blatant attempt to undermine our company, using disinformation and to influence the ongoing court processes related to our fight to keep our bank accounts open. The screenshots included in the article are nothing more than a gimmick to convince the public of “evidence” that does not exist.
“Such tactics, relying on disinformation and fabrication, are not only unethical but fundamentally undermine the principles of fair journalism.
“The targeted and unwarranted attacks on Independent Media's Executive Chairman, Dr Survé, by News24 have clearly exposed them as enemies of press freedom and democracy.
“Any suggestion that a chairman of a media conglomerate controls and runs the editorial process, as the article implies, is both laughable and without basis.
IOL