It was reported this week that Minister Carrim was speaking at the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) conference in Boksburg‚ which Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and members of the media attended.
AIP deputy president Moses Moyo said community publications around the country struggled to procure advertising from retailers to sustain their operations‚ although the Government Communication and Information System has committed 30% of its advertising budget to advertise in community newspapers.
Moyo said the independent press‚ which produced 7-million print copies monthly with a readership of close to 28-million (according to a ratio of four readers per copy)‚ would also work to improve content in community papers and organise the sub-sector.
President Jacob Zuma recently spoke to Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) journalism students‚ saying reports from the media had a negative effect on perceptions about SA and proposed that equal media attention should be devoted to positive developments.
In the same week however‚ President Zuma made an unexpected about turn on the Protection of State Information Bill by referring the controversial document‚ dubbed the secrecy bill‚ back to the National Assembly for adjustments because the bill in its current form "did not pass constitutional muster".
Carrim replaced Dina Pule after a cabinet reshuffle in July.
Carrim said the freedom of the press reflected the quality of the country's constitution. He also condemned the recent arson attack on Zamdela based community radio station Karabo FM as an attack on that media freedom.
"The independent media is crucial to the freedom of the press. The ANC and the government‚ whatever you might think‚ have a long heritage of advocating media freedom‚" Carrim said.
Carrim said the independent media strengthened democracy through its propensity to give voice to diverse views "which would otherwise never be heard".
"This media seems to be less sensational and somewhat more informative and educational in ways that the mainstream media isn't. It is also through this form of media that the diversity of our languages finds expression‚" he said.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said protection of media freedom was always crucial as no ombudsman office or watchdog body in SA could effectively do its work in holding the powerful to account without the vigilance of media.
"Media shines a light on abuses of power. They expose those who abuse public power but they also shed light when big business misbehaves (citing the price fixing scandal now known as the "bread cartel" and the collusion of construction companies in the construction of stadiums for the 2010 FIFA World Cup football tournament)‚" Madonsela said.
Mathatha Tsedu‚ director of the Print and Digital Media Transformation Task Team (PDMTTT) said while it was good that government committed to direct some of its advertising business to community papers‚ he was concerned that a high concentration of state advertising would create community papers overly dependent on the state‚ thereby compromising independence of content.
He also said he did not entirely agree with President Zuma's comments made to the TUT students about media coverage in SA.
"I agree that positive and negative developments both deserve coverage. But I don't agree with the president's assertion that Mexican media ignores crime stories out of patriotism. Mexican media ignores those issues because covering them would leave the reporters vulnerable to gang violence in the country‚" Tsedu said.
Tsedu said the task team had concluded its report on the pace of transformation in print and digital media which would be released soon.
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