News media sector representatives, journalists and editors often respond to criticism of the press with assertions that the freedom and independence of the news media must be protected at all costs. Read more
In a dumbfounding move, Independent Media last week announced that it will opt out of the Press Council system. Instead the company has appointed its own in-house Ombudsman to administer and adjudicate on complaints laid against the content of all of its own print news titles. Now, one of this country’s largest print media companies, […] Read more
The Media Policy and Democracy Project recently launched its most up-to-date research report, this time tackling the now thorny issue of press regulation in South Africa. The aim of the report is to measure the main arguments of critics of the press regulatory system, most notably those of the ANC, against hard statistics, numbers and facts. What […] Read more
In South Africa, press freedom, our freedom of expression rights, and communications rights, are suffering from a disease. There are a number of obvious symptoms of this illness. We need to take a look at these to determine what they are a symptom of, what is causing them, perform a diagnosis, and then work out […] Read more
Has the age of the internet made plagiarism easier? Media analyst and academic, Julie Reid, asks whether incidents of plagiarism are going largely unnoticed, due to the nature of the media industry and the influence of social media. The recent case at Financial Mail (FM), which led to the resignation of a journalist, brings the […] Read more
Will the Press Freedom Commission rescue media freedom, or is it just more of the same? Media analyst Julie Reid considers its relevance. In the face of criticism for the system of press self-regulation – most notably in the form of complaints emanating from the ANC over the shoddy state of journalism in the country […] Read more
