Bloemfontein Press hearings get input from real, working journalists
Whichever way you look at it, submissions made by the Volksblad at the Press Council public hearings in Bloemfontein last week were something of a milestone. This was one of the few times that actual journalists - as opposed to media academics or members of civil society - gave presentations.
After the submissions by Volksblad's acting night editor, Gert Coetzee, the council's chairman, Joe Thloloe, commented that this was the first publication that had responded to the council's request for dialogue and input at the hearings, adding: "Thank you". And, hearing that Coetzee was about to address the council, one media follower tweeted a comment expressing some relief that a practising journalist was eventually to speak. Previous submissions had been dominated by media academics.
...The other major input was from media academic JD Froneman of the North-West University, Potchefstroom [whose] remarks critical of the "juniorisation" of newsrooms around South Africa will be met with widespread agreement.
Read the full article, as well as Press Council hearings in Cape Town - speaking to empty chairs, again Day two of press hearings in Cape Town affords casual debate, on www.freeafricamedia.com, a Daily Maverick initiative.
View tweets from the public hearings through the Bizcommunity #zamediafreedom Twitterfall or via Twitter Search (#presscouncilhearings OR #pcph or Press Council public hearings).
Source: Free African Media
Free African Media is an initiative of The Daily Maverick team, in collaboration with journalists from all over Africa. With free, quality media and freedom of expression under attack from just about every corner of African reality, it's become more and more obvious that a concentrated, Africa-wide effort is needed to help the fight, and Free African Media aims to do just that. It will function as a platform dedicated to freedom of expression throughout the continent, as well to helping improve the overall quality of reporting, analysis and opinion Africa-wide. Like Free African Media on Facebook; follow on Twitter at @africanmedia and, to contribute, email moc.aidemnacirfaeerf@krow.
Go to: http://www.freeafricanmedia.comAbout Carmel Rickard
Carmel Rickard has been a journalist for 30 years and specialises in writing about the intersection of law and politics, a job which, thanks to the internet, she does from a rural town in Free State where she has lived for the last 10 years. Rickard herself also made a submission at the Bloemfontein National Press Council public hearings. Follow her on Twitter at @CarmelRickard.
