Motsoeneng slammed over crime comments

SABC’s chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng came under fire yesterday after saying reporting crime in the media influences young people to commit crime. A report in The Citizen notes that Motsoeneng, who called for media regulation, argued the role of the media was to influence mindsets. Thus, reporting about crime encourages the youth to commit crime. In an interview with KykNet, Motsoeneng criticised journalists and said media needed to be regulated. His comments sparked outrage on social media, with some lashing at him and a few agreeing with him. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, an 11-minute video posted on YouTube on Tuesday shows Motsoeneng explaining why he was lobbying for journalists to be regulated. In it, he says: 'I am lobbying big time for the country to regulate, I am lobbying for the Department of Communications to make sure that we regulate journalists as a whole.'