Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa) - Media Coverage

Media Coverage

The hearings were initially set to be heard in camera, but the intervention of 23 non-governmental organisations eventually succeeded in gaining media access to the hearings. On 15 April 1996 the South African National Broadcaster televised the first two hours of the first human rights violation committee hearing live. With funding from the Norwegian government, radio continued to broadcast live throughout. Additional high-profile hearings, such as Winnie Mandela's testimony, were also televised live. The rest of the hearings were presented on television each Sunday from April 1996 to June 1998 in hour-long episodes of the "Truth Commission Special Report" by progressive Afrikaner journalist Max du Preez, former editor of the Vrye Weekblad. The producers of the program included Anneliese Burgess, Jann Turner, Benedict Motau, Gael Reagon, Rene Schiebe and Bronwyn Nicholson, a production assistant.

Various films have been made about the commission:

• Confronting the Truth by Steve York. 2006, documentary, produced in association with the United States Institute of Peace.
• Facing the Truth (1999) by Bill Moyers. 2-part PBS series.
• Forgiveness (2004) directed by Ian Gabriel. A South African feature film starring South African–born actor Arnold Vosloo as a disgraced ex-cop seeking forgiveness from the family of the activist he killed under the Apartheid regime. With Quanita Adams and Zane Meas.
• In My Country (2004), very loosely based on Country of My Skull, an autobiographical text by Antjie Krog which dealt with her coverage of the hearings, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche
• Long Night's Journey into Day (2000) by Frances Reid. Documentary.
• Red Dust (2004), based on the novel of the same title by Gillian Slovo, starring Hilary Swank, Jamie Bartlett and Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Zulu Love Letter (2004) directed by Ramadan Suleman and starring Pamela Nomvete.

Several plays have been produced about the TRC:

• "Truth in Translation" (2006), by Paavo Tom Tammi, in collaboration with American director, Michael Lessac and the company of Colonnades Theatre Lab, South Africa.
• Ubu and the Truth Commission (1997), by Jane Taylor and William Kentridge.
• Nothing but the Truth (2002), by John Kani
• The Story I Am About to Tell, created in collaboration with the Khulumani support group
• The Dead Wait, by Paul Herzberg

Some of Ingrid de Kok's poetry in Terrestrial Things (2002) deals with the TRC (e.g. The Archbishop Chairs the First Session, The Transcriber Speaks, The Sound Engineer).