M&G falls foul of NPA Act; a dark portend of things to come

Blacked-out Mail & Guardian lead story, Friday 18 November 2011. Pic tweeted by @GasantAbarder.

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If (or, more realistically when) that is denied, the newspaper will challenge the law on constitutional grounds. It hasn't escaped anyone's notice that what amounts to censorship of the media will become increasingly common, should the Protection of Information Bill be voted into law next week.

It's every editor's nightmare: having your lead story threatened with legal action hours before publication. This Friday, 18 November 2011, the Mail & Guardian was set to run with an article about an investigation into presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj. Instead, the paper has had to resort to slapping a "censored" graphic across its front page, and the story itself is heavily redacted.

The information that the M&G would have published, in a story by senior investigative reporters Sam Sole and Stefaans Brümmer, relates to the Scorpions' now-defunct investigation of Maharaj, during which he gave evidence under oath in terms of Section 28 of the National Prosecution Authority Act. "Just learned that the NPA Act has sections as bad as #secrecybill. Your M&G will look butchered tomorrow. Blame Mac Maharaj," M&G editor Nic Dawes tweeted shortly after 6pm on Thursday 17 November. He explained the situation in more detail to Daily Maverick.

"There's a section of the NPA Act called Section 28, which deals with confidential interviewing processes that they may conduct under oath during their investigations," Dawes said. "The part that we're falling foul of here is a very little-known addition to the act, which says that no person without the permission of the national director (of public prosecutions) may disclose any information about the record of evidence given at that investigation, or any of the relevant documents on pain of a fine or a period of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years, or both."

Continue reading the full story on www.dailymaverick.co.za.

For more:

• Mail & Guardian Online: Censored: A buried trail of lies
  
• Mail & Guardian Online: Invoking fears of censorship: Mac vs M&G
  
• Mail & Guardian Online: The Mac behind the big cheese - editorial that has been redacted on legal advice
  
• News24: Mail & Guardian explains censorship
  
• Google News Search: Mail & Guardian Mac Maharaj

For More list added at 10.58 on 18 November 2011.