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City Press attorneys are demanding a written apology from Faith Nketsi-Njilo for sharing the cellphone number of senior entertainment journalist Julia Madibogo and putting her in harms way.
Last month, Madibogo opened a case against the media personality and influencer after City Press published a story about the reality TV star’s rumoured pregnancy.
In the letter to Nketsi sent on Wednesday, Willem de Klerk Attorneys wrote:
Madibogo said she was inundated with dozens of phone calls and messages from private numbers and anonymous people, who got her number from the post.
“People purporting to be your fans have harassed her with obscenities, demanded that she share your number with them and intimidated her with threats to leave you alone,” the letter added.
The attorneys demanded that the influencer should apologise on her Instagram story and leave the apology for 24 hours. She should also undertake not to repeat this and refrain from sharing the personal information of Madibogo or any other City Press journalist.
“We demand that you comply with these demands within 48 hours of transmission hereof. Failure to do so will be understood by our clients to mean that you are unrepentant in your conduct and see no wrongdoing therein.”
City Press editor in chief Mondli Makhanya said what Nketsi-Njilo did – taking someone’s personal information and blasting it online without their consent – was “extremely dangerous, wrong and illegal”.
READ: City Press journalist opens harassment case against Faith Nketsi-Njilo
Makhanya said what made it even worse was that she did it to a journalist who was only trying to do her job – which was to ask for her side of the story. All Nketsi Njilo needed to do was to respond to the question, but instead she “chose to adopt vigilante tactics”.
Makhanya added:
He said this practice needed to be stopped. “It is not nice to be harassed by strangers online. If they then meet you in person, what could they possibly do to you then? What Nketsi-Njilo did is that she mobilised a mob against our reporter and that can have an emotional impact and makes the work of all journalists very difficult.
“The action we have taken is aimed at Nketsi-Njilo to try and redeem herself by apologising for engaging in immoral and dangerous behaviour. If she does not redeem herself as a result of the action we have taken, then we have no option but to take it further legally.”
The letter also stressed that City Press took the safety and security of its journalists seriously and would not allow them to be intimidated and harassed. Such conduct threatened their safety and infringed on the media’s right to freedom of expression and duty to impart information.
The letter concluded:
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