Racism claims against reporter are ‘maliciously misleading’ – eNCA

Independent television news channel eNCA has come to the defence of its political reporter Lindsey Dentlinger, after she was accused of being racist. A video clip of Dentlinger has gone viral, showing her asking black politicians, including the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) Nqabayomzi Kwankwa and African National Congress (ANC) MP Bongani Bondo, to put on their mask. However she is also seen conducting interviews with the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) John Steenhuisen and FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald, without masks.

Most of the interviews were done outside Parliament, after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.

So eNCA has been doing this for a while now!!! #eNCA #eNCAMUSTFALL #eNCAtrash pic.twitter.com/I9b2aeIPx4

— #BlackExcellence (@Sakhi_Afrika) February 25, 2021

The news channel said it has engaged Dentlinger and has labelled the outrage which has been sparked by the clip as unfair.

“In an intense live broadcast environment like the Budget Speech coverage, our journalists are under pressure to remain compliant while delivering fair, accurate and balanced news. The journalist had to contend with being live on air and taking producer instructions via her earpiece and unfortunately failed to request that the interviewee wear a mask. Criticism to this extent leveled at a journalist under these circumstances is unfair and unfortunate. Comments and some video content that are currently being shared is maliciously misleading.” said John Bailey, Managing Editor of eNCA.

Will Sanef intervene in eNCA racial storm?

In the wake of the scandal, there are calls for the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) to reprimand eNCA. The editors’ forum is yet to weigh in on the matter, something which has also piqued the interest of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema.

At the same time, eNCA’s Managing Director Norman Munzhelele has said that the perceptions about both the channel and journalist is unfair and not a true reflection.

“After carefully analyzing the situation, we understand that given the pressure of the live TV environment such unplanned occurrences can occur. Through our deliberations, we have found that there is no mal intent on the part of the journalist,” he said.

“We also appreciate the sensitivity of the matter and people’s concerns and reaffirm our commitment to encouraging compliance with regulations designed to inhibit transmission of Covid-19 across our population irrespective of race, colour or creed” Munzhelele stated.

People are less than impressed with eNCA’s response and are calling for tougher action to be taken against the journalist.