Record year for Cannes Lions entries

CANNES, FRANCE: A total of 28 828 entries from 90 countries (725 from SA) have been submitted to the Cannes Lions 58th International Festival of Creativity, the international annual awards for creative advertising and communications. This is the most entries in the history of the festival. 1 Jun 2011 07:19

Anton Hammerl believed dead; much sorrow, anger

South African photographer Anton Hammerl, who'd been missing in Libya since 5 April 2011, is presumed dead. According to eyewitnesses, Hammerl was shot on that day by Gaddafi's forces in an extremely remote location in the Libyan desert and his injuries were such that he could not have survived without medical attention. 20 May 2011 09:29

Press freedom celebrations tempered with concerns

Yesterday, Tuesday, 3 May 2011, was the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, begun in Namibia as the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media throughout the world. Celebrations around the world were tempered with concerns about the erosion of press freedom and in South Africa, SANEF called on Government to review its proposed legislations that has seen SA downgrade from 'free press' to 'partly free'. 4 May 2011 09:13

Decline in press freedom experienced in key countries - report

WASHINGTON: The number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade, according a Freedom House study released yesterday, 2 May 2011. The report, Freedom of the Press 2011: A global survey of media independence, found that a number of key countries experienced significant declines, producing a global landscape in which only one in six people live in countries with a press that is designated Free. 3 May 2011 14:00

Concern mounts over missing SA journo as govt scrambles to assist

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] As concern mounts over the fate of Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer missing in Libya alongside two US journalists and one Spanish photographer, the Presidency said yesterday, Wednesday, 20 April 2011, that President Jacob Zuma has been briefed on the attempts made by the SA mission in Libya to locate Hammerl. Reports from Washington DC also suggest that the White House is very concerned about their well-being and it is trying hard to assist them in any way it can. 21 Apr 2011 11:10

WAN-IFRA supports new resolution in MENA

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has called on governments across the Middle East and North Africa to seize a historic opportunity "to recognise and support the essential role a free and independent press must play in the democratisation process." 11 Apr 2011 06:40

Joy as Facebook launches 'Journalists on Facebook' page

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, has launched a resource page called 'Journalists on Facebook' to help reporters find sources, interact with their readers and advance stories, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported on Wednesday 6, April 2011. 7 Apr 2011 09:55

Mubarak gone, Egyptian media picks up pieces - where to from here?

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] After nursing its wounds inflicted by the tyrannical regime of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian media - aided by the Jasmine Revolution - has begun to count the costs of the oppression, pull itself together and plan for the future. As the road to freedom is still littered with 'technical' obstacles, many observers wonder: where to from here? 7 Apr 2011 09:34

Newspapers and journalists face threats and legal pressure

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the steadily worsening climate of harassment and intimidation that the Ethiopian authorities have imposed on the media, especially the private media. 25 Mar 2011 06:25

NYT reporters free, at Turkish embassy in Libya

Four New York Times journalists detained in Libya have been released and handed over to Turkey's embassy in Tripoli, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday, Monday 21 March 2011. 22 Mar 2011 12:32

African politicians ban media to avoid criticism - Henry Maina

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The fundamental reason that many African governments ban and harass the media has more to do with personal connotations than other issues, Kenya's Henry Maina, director of Article 19 Eastern Africa, told delegates at the two-day Regulations and Rights media conference last week in Johannesburg. 16 Mar 2011 10:22

Dario Milo and media law: is legal sky a limit for journalists?

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] There is some substantiated regulation of what the media can do and what it cannot do, but the balance must be struck between what the law has prescribed and freedom of expression, Prof Dario Milo, Wits University media law visiting professor and Webber & Wentzel partner, said last week in Johannesburg at the two-day Regulations and Rights media conference. 15 Mar 2011 14:01

What to do with critical media: to regulate or not to regulate?

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] As governments across the African continent come under increasing pressure from critical media, 'vulture' ruling parties believe the only way to deal with this 'surrogate opposition' is to regulate it through statutory mechanisms that will eventually dent its wayward reporting. But some African voices of reason, such as Zambia's Fred M'membe, argue that the restriction of good media never produces good media. 14 Mar 2011 10:50

African media is surrogate opposition - Prof Tawana Kupe

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Due to the lack of a strong and united political opposition, the media in Africa, at least those that are critical of government policies, becomes a powerful force called a surrogate opposition, Prof Tawana Kupe, dean of faculty of humanities at Wits University, said this week in Johannesburg. 11 Mar 2011 10:29