*South Africa’s Press Council has expelled Independent Media “with immediate effect”.
Chairperson of the Press Council, Judge Fritz Brand, said it was unacceptable for member publications to wilfully refuse to obey the rulings of the PCSA.
“When publishers join the Council, they sign an agreement, meaning that ‘publications that voluntarily subscribe to the jurisdiction of the PCSA commit to abide by the Press Code and are bound to comply with any sanctions against them made by the Press Ombud and the Chair of Appeals’,” the council said in a release.
Early on Wednesday morning, Independent Media issued a press release saying it had withdrawn from the industry body.
“This decision comes after considerable deliberation and our efforts to engage with the Press Council on a fair and transparent basis,” it said in a press statement without attributing it to a spokesperson for the group.
‘Constructive dialogue’
“Despite repeated attempts to arrange meetings with the chairman of our group and editor-in-chief, both of whom were travelling as previously communicated, the Press Council has chosen not to accommodate our request for constructive dialogue.”
Independent Media rejoined the Press Council of South Africa with much fanfare on 1 January 2024. It previously terminated its membership of the PCSA in 2016. Its decision to rejoin the PCSA was widely welcomed. SANEF said its return was welcomed after a seven-year absence.
“We want as many media groups as possible to subscribe to the Press Code which sets the rules of the game for fair journalism,” said Brand.
The expulsion follows the group’s refusal to obey findings of the Council’s Adjudication Panel and Chair of Appeals relating to a column headlined Is Karyn Maughan South Africa’s Leni Riefenstahl – the Nazi Film Propagandist?, published on 3 March 2024 in the Sunday Independent and various other Independent Media titles, and to an existing decision from 2016 in the matter, Gillian Moodie vs Independent Newspapers
An adjudication panel chaired by Deputy Press Ombud Franz Krüger, assisted by Professor Karthy Govender and veteran journalist Joe Thloloe, found that the column about Maughan had caused severe harm to the News24 journalist’s professional and personal reputation.
After receiving Judge Bernard Ngoepe’s decision on the Maughan/News24 case, Sunday Independent published an article on IOL announcing it was withdrawing from the PCSA.
“The PCSA sought clarification from Independent Media CEO Mohammed Hoosain,” it noted in the press release. “In a letter dated 2 October, he confirmed Sunday Independent’s withdrawal, but it was unclear what this meant regarding the sanction.”
Rejected the ‘withdrawal’
The PCSA held a meeting on 3 October 2024 in which it rejected Sunday Independent’s “withdrawal”. Its decision stipulated that if Sunday Independent did not submit a draft apology to Maughan for approval by the Deputy Press Ombud by the deadline of 9 October 2024, it would give the Independent Media group of publications seven working days to adhere to the findings or submit reasons why they should not be expelled.
Independent Media’s internal legal representative informed the PCSA on 7 October 2024 that they would not be abiding by the sanctions.
Independent Media and IOL sent “letters of withdrawal” on 22 October.
On 23 October, the Press Council unanimously decided to expel the Independent Media group with immediate effect.
In the letter of expulsion, Judge Brand wrote: “…in accordance with Clause 4.3 of the Press Council’s Constitution, Subscriber Publications must give the PCSA at least three years’ notice of their intention to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the PCSA.
It wrote, “Be it as it may, the Press Council cannot accept the ‘withdrawals’, not with Independent Media’s refusal to comply with the findings and sanctions of the Press Council’s Press Ombud, Adjudication Panel and Chair of Appeals. We thus reject the ‘letters of withdrawal’.
“Your letters up to date have given no indication that you will be adhering to the findings and sanctions of the Press Council and have given no motivation why the PCSA should not expel the Independent Media Group accordingly.”
Questions PCSA impartiality
Meanwhile, Independent Media has questioned the Press Council’s impartiality.
“Our initial hope in joining the Press Council was that it would serve as an impartial institution, upholding the highest values of press freedom and ethical journalism. Unfortunately, it has become evident that the Press Council does not represent these values as publicly claimed,” it said in the statement.
“Instead, through its recent judgments, the Council has positioned itself as a de facto censor, restricting the range of allowable opinions—an approach that is incompatible with its mandate to safeguard press freedom.”
It accused the PCSA of suppression Independent Media’s constitutional right of its writers to express opinions and said it has proved that the organisation has become “weaponised against those who seek to uphold the true values of journalism”.
*Story updated with Press Council decision at 3pm on 23 October.
