Thorny branches of the 'tolerated weed' : some remarks on the protection of journalists' sources in South Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
The Final Report of the International Legal Research Group on Freedom of Expression - Protection of Journalistic Sources is the outcome of a year of effort and devotion. Approximately 300 people are the ‘owners’ of this work. The topic of new LRG is Protection of Journalistic Sources.There have been a large number of cases in which public authorities in Europe have forced, or attempted to force, journalists to disclose their sources. The European Court of Human Rights has reiterated that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights safeguards not only the substance and contents of information and ideas, but also the means of transmitting it. The press has been accorded the broadest scope of protection in the Court’s case law, including with regard to confidentiality of journalistic sources.
The Round Table Media Freedom in South Africa
The hope that South Africa would be a beacon of media freedom and plurality when apartheid ended with the election of President Nelson Mandela has, sadly, faded. This erosion of media freedom has mirrored the gradual loss of support for the governing party, the ANC. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the media have come in for intense pressure as they fulfilled their obligation to act as the nation’s watchdog. As one commentator observed: ‘The ANC does not like a free and independently owned press with its watchdog capabilities’ (Naspers Chairman Ton Vosloo, November 2014). Another commentator, the Economic Freedom Fighter’s Member of Parliament Fana Mokoena, asked: ‘The SABC is a microcosm of South Africa when all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. How did this happen?’ This article discusses the decline of media freedom in South Africa and explores the causes for the decline.
1987
While the government of South Africa has outwardly promoted democracy since 1983, it nonetheless has placed its press under tight constraint to discourage dissent concerning political issues and enhance the government's credibility. Not only are journalists within the country restricted, but foreign correPpondents as well. Moreover, although there are no official censors, censorship is implied by the laws because journalists are restrained from commenting freely and the subject matter on which they may report is limited to issues that are not contentious. The laws are so vague that journalists could easily report something the government subsequently objects to, which engenders a form of self-censorship. South Africa's government states that its mission is democracy, but its reaction concerning free speech contradicts its assertions. A free press is necessary to a democracy because it promotes discussion and dissent, which in turn fosters public consensus. The government, however, believes a free press to be dangerous to its well-being until a democracy is established. South Africa's government needs to understand that a f?ee press is not a product of a democracy but an essential element of the process of peaceful change. (Forty-three references are included.) (JC)
The Round Table, 2018
The hope that South Africa would be a beacon of media freedom and plurality when apartheid ended with the election of President Nelson Mandela has, sadly, faded. This erosion of media freedom has mirrored the gradual loss of support for the governing party, the ANC. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the media have come in for intense pressure as they fulfilled their obligation to act as the nation’s watchdog. As one commentator observed: ‘The ANC does not like a free and independently owned press with its watchdog capabilities’. Another commentator, the Economic Freedom Fighter’s Member of Parliament Fana Mokoena, asked: ‘The SABC is a microcosm of South Africa when all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. How did this happen?’. This article discusses the decline of media freedom in South Africa and explores the causes for the decline.
The Right of Journalists Not to Disclose Their Sources and the New Media
This essay deals with the question of whether the right of journalists not to disclose their sources should be extended so as to cover the various ‘citizen journalists’ of the New Media. After expounding some jurisprudential attempts to confront this issue in the USA and after tracing the restrictive tendencies in the available instruments of the Council of Europe, we examine and then criticize a recent attempt to escape the problem through focusing on the ‘source’ rather than on the ‘journalist’. Returning back to the traditional context of the debate, in the last section of our essay we propose an enlargement of the traditional conception of the ‘journalist’, in order to provide protection to all persons who disseminate information to the general public through the use of New Media, on condition that these persons had the intent to do so (i.e. to disseminate information) already at the inception of the information-gathering process.
National Security and Seditious Offences; Barriers to Botswana Media?
The role of the media in a democratic state is insurmountable to the extent that the government accountability and transparency cannot be accomplished. Media freedom and freedom of expression is entrenched in almost every country ’s constitution that upholds the rule of law, Botswana is also part of the inclusion. It is essential in that it also exercises public scrutiny over public and political affairs, as well as ensuring the accountability of political bodies and public authorities necessary in a democratic society. With the clash of interest between the government and the media the former more often abuses its powers on the latter and this in turn has resulted in the establishment of the Media Institute of Southern Africa which protects the media in Southern Africa from abuse. The media in Botswana is still faced with challenges and among others are; the insult laws or seditious offences and national security issues that hinders public scrutiny thus rendering the media obsolete and vulnerable as we shall see thereafter in this paper