Media freedom battle will be long, says SANEF

"This is about the whole of society"

"We should move quickly from simply shouting to a programme of action to win the hearts of minds of society and put mechanisms in place to fight this battle, Makhanya said. "This is not only about us the media, or SANEF or newsrooms. This is about the whole of society."

Makhanya was speaking at the Southern Sun Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, where a SANEF media freedom summit is being held.

He said by galvanising its branches and structures on the ground on the issue of media appeals tribunal, the ANC has created an increasing climate of hostility towards the media and a culture of intolerance that will have a long-lasting effect and which, he said, will have serious implications for the country in the future.

Look for form partnerships

At today's summit, SANEF will look to form partnerships with various stakeholders and elect committee members that will manage the coalition to position the independent media to fight what some observers have described as the 'mother of all battles'.

Okyerebea Ampofo-Anti, of Webber Wentzel law firm, said the ANC will have to come up with solid arguments and legitimate reasons as to why it is seeking to limit the right to freedom of expression in terms of Section 36 of the Constitution. Freedom of expression is an indispensable and essential element of democracy, which helps to share opinions and let the public to participate in public affairs, Ampofo-Anti pointed out.

Reg Rumney, who runs the Centre for Economic Journalism based at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape, lashed out at the ANC, saying that its claims of establishing a media tribunal based on arguments that the media is abusing the right to free speech abuse and that the office of the press ombudsman is 'toothless' are vague and not-evidence based.

Serious consequences

Rumney said while self-regulation is neither perfect nor popular, statutory regulation is dangerous and can have serious consequences. He also said that the ANC's punitive threats against journalists through its media appeals tribunal will undermine the office of the ombudsman, make self-regulation unworkable and impractical.

"As a result", he said, "journalistic quality will suffer as mainstream media's credibility is affected.