Press freedom crucial to SA’s future
It is worrying that South Africa is among the countries which has seen the biggest decline in global press freedom rankings.
THE repressive media environment during the apartheid era is a far cry from the more favourable conditions South African journalists work under today.
We have come a long way and freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our Constitution and hard-fought democracy.
But as the country commemorated ‘Black Wednesday’ last week- that historic day on 19 October 1977 when the apartheid government banned newspapers The World, Weekend World and Pro Veritate – and 17 black consciousness organisations – there are potent threats to media freedom today which raises alarming red flags for the future.
When one analyses how the country is faring in terms of media freedom 22 years post-democracy, it is worrying that South Africa is among the countries which has seen the biggest decline in global press freedom rankings.
According to the Freedom of the Press Report 2016, South Africa has dropped four places and is now being seen as only ‘partly free’ – surely a cause for concern in bureaucratic circles as it goes against the very ideals of our robust democracy.
This can be attributed to a number of challenges, the fiercest being the controversial Protection of State Information Bill better known as the ‘Secrecy Bill’.
In direct contradiction to our enshrined Constitutional right, it carries prison terms of up to 25 years for the disclosure of classified state information. The right of access to information is crucial to accurate reporting and thus imparting information to the public.
Apart from corporate and political encroachment in editorial operations, the most saddening move by government though has been the proposal to establish a state-run Media Appeals Tribunal to handle complaints against the press, which media freedom advocates have vehemently opposed.
The South African National Editors Forum has consistently asserted that the current system of independent co-regulation for print and digital media, which includes members of the press and public, is an adequate mechanism.
The Press Council has been a bulwark against statutory regulations that would violate the country’s Constitution.
It was therefore ironic that one of the country’s biggest media houses – Independent Media – chose to withdraw from the Press Council in the week that we commemorated ‘Black Wednesday’.
While we seemingly have left those dark days behind, journalism is yet to face its greatest battle – the threat of state censorship or capture – something that must be fought tooth and nail so that matters of public interest are uncovered.
