No Comment 10 September 2007

There’s going to be a fair amount of diplomatic ballet going on in Grahamstown this week as African and South African editors from all over the continent meet to discuss issues such as press freedom, all the while sharing the platform with SABC bigwigs at the more formal presentations at the annual Highway Africa new media conference and Digital Citizen’s Indaba, held at Rhodes University. The unprecedented attack on the media by SABC CEO Dali Mpofu last week when he pulled out of the SA National Editor’s Forum (SANEF) so publicly, was reminiscent of the PW Botha era when we worked under a State of Emergency, having to read our stories to lawyers at night to ensure we could publish – it could still come to that. Former-SANEF head and <i>Sowetan</i> editor, Thabo Leshilo, writing in the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> last week in his personal capacity, warns of the increasing attacks on media freedom in South Africa: “things are not yet perfect in our fledgling democracy, even if we have by far the freest media in Africa. The democratic government recently launched an assault on our media freedom in the form of pre-publication censorship contained in the Films and Publications Amendment Bill.” He goes on to quote the respected Raymond Louw, media freedom fighter of note: “Despite the constitutional guarantees of media freedom in South Africa, there are signs the government and its die-hard allies are slowly but surely imitating repressive governments’ ways in their quest to hinder freedom of the media and freedom of expression.” It is extremely concerning. A free press is the guardian of democracy. It’s one of the reasons <i>Maverick</i> publisher Branko Brkic is launching <i>Empire</i> – to ensure that the principles and business of media is taken to a wider audience, including consumers.

Be informed!
Louise Marsland, editor@bizcommunity.com
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This column originally published 10 September 2007.