THE revelation last week that some Cape Town journalists had been in the pockets of politicians is disconcerting – precisely because it involves the very people society has entrusted with the role of watchdog against corruption.

Now, people trust journalists because of the altruistic nature of their craft. They take it for granted that the men and women of the fourth estate have no ulterior motives and are motivated primarily by the desire to serve the public. A single reporter who breaks that trust does untold damage to the credibility of the media.

The sad truth is that journalists with ethics of pigs are not an exclusively Cape Town phenomena. They can be found crawling in other news rooms across the country. My experience is that showbiz and celebrity journalism are the murkiest. The saturation coverage some promoters, performers and “celebs” enjoy is a function of their ability to grease palms.

The commonest of the elaborate scams entail rogue reporters and news editors giving undue publicity to the clients of public relations companies owned by their kith and kin.

Free, unwarranted exposure is also given to curry favour with relatives, friends and benefactors.

The most brazen of the scum do not think twice of moonlighting as publicists for well-known people and events. Last year, Sowetan incurred the wrath of newspaper reporters it had exposed for earning extra cash from the SABC for stories they published about the broadcaster.

I know I’ve painted a gloomy picture.

The pleasing truth is that corruption among journalists is not endemic in our country.

It is only a tiny unethical minority that is on the take. Most journalists are decent folk who work hard to support modest lifestyles.

Such is life. A few scoundrels can tarnish the credibility of an entire industry.

The big problem though is the way the media handle their ignoble sons and daughters.

Their tendency to dispense with corrupt journalists quietly in order to avoid embarrassment is so typical of the private sector it is problematic.

Reports about corrupt journalists are extremely rare. For example, only a few people in the fraternity know that a popular Sunday tabloid quickly and quietly got rid of its highly compromised news editor only a few weeks ago.

The secrecy around his departure and that of other scaly journalists leads to the undesirable situation whereby they can rotate among different media houses – even within the same company – without their previous crimes being detected. And, just as it is impossible for a leopard to change its spots, they almost always continue in their old fraudulent ways.