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Battle for SA media freedom

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Posted by Chris on Jan 18, 2012 in Features, Main | 0 comments

There were many important stories in the South African media in 2011, but perhaps the biggest story was the media itself. The beginning of 2012 sees the South African media, and by extension, the state of democracy in South Africa, in a parlous position that many see as boding ill for the future of the country.

This state of affairs informed the way the media worked, and the types of stories that were published. It also highlighted the growing importance of digital media. For citizens, as a way to continue to make their voices heard, and to access information necessary to a civil society intent on being the watchdogs of good governance and constitutional values; and for the media, it drove home how vital digital platforms are, and will be in future, in the preservation of the freedom of the press.

The Secrecy Bill and the battle for media freedom

In 2011, the media came under sustained attack from the government and the court of public opinion. It also contrived to stab itself in the back with a myopic, narcissistic response to infringements on the freedom of the press, both actual and imagined, as well as some unfortunate lapses in editorial rigor. Major pressure was put on media structures because of this combination of negative propaganda and legitimate criticism.The result was a publishing climate in which some news organisations were anecdotally considered to be practicing a form of self-censorship, and where attention was deflected from reporting the news, to campaigning to protect the right to continue doing so.

[These are the introductory paragraphs to a 2800 word essay I wrote for the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Read the rest here - it looks forward to 2012's inevitable battles for the preservation of civil liberties, and asks whether we have the conditions for a social media revolution of sorts in South Africa.]

 

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