Media Woken from Media Freedom Slumber

By Themba Sepotokele


When retired judge of the Constitutional Court Pius Langa stood in the not-so packed Wits Great Hall to commemorate Media Freedom Day on Monday, 19 October 2009, most newspaper editors were nowhere to be seen. Worse, editors did not assign reporters to cover the event.

Langa, who delivered the keynote address, had delivered a mouth-watering speech which has not even been posted on the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) website. And SANEF are the chief co-organisers of the event together with the Freedom of Expression Institute FXI), the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and Print Media South Africa (IAJ)!

Comment on the MAT and Media Freedom Day

by Themba Sepotokele

The not so helpful emotional response from media houses on the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and the insults hurled at journalists by some politicians have caused more harm than good on a simple debate about recourse.
Crying wolf where none exist has created a storm in the tea cup. Is it wrong for the governing party to ask for recourse if wronged by the media? I don't think so! What's actually wrong is to put the cart before the horse. Starting a debate on the recourse since the apology is all good and well. However, talking about jailing or fining journalists - while initially the matter meant for discussion - defeats the purpose of a debate.