Once again Friday night at the scene of a crime that was committed on Ontdekkers Road where two hijackers were shot dead, the Roodepoort police attempted to prevent the Record from performing their duties.
At first a member of the Honey Hills Neighbourhood Watch told the journalist that “we are going to f**k you up” when he wanted to take a picture from without the cordoned off crime scene. He then proceeded to tell a female bystander to “shut up”.
Shortly afterwards high ranking members of Roodepoort police also tried to prevent the journalist from taking pictures which is in breach of standing order 156.
Journalists right to conduct their work is first entrenched in the constitution in that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996) “entrenches the right to freedom of expression”.
The Standing Order 156 states clearly on page nine point 10 under the heading Conduct in public and towards a media representative that “a member must treat all media representatives with courtesy, dignity and respect,even when provoked, and promote ethical communication with the media”.
Point number 3.a under the same heading states that “although the media may be prohibited in terms of section 69 of the South African Police Service Act, 1995, from publishing certain photographs and sketches, a media representative may not be prohibited from taking photographs or making visual recordings”. Point 3.c also states that “a media representative my under no circumstances be verbally or physically abused and cameras or other equipment may not be seized unless as an exhibit in terms of any law”.
Once comment has been extracted from those involved, the Record will update its readers and the names of those involved.
