The announcement was made on Friday, 25 May 2007, by Raymond Louw, chairman of the Founding Bodies Committee, which will hand over its responsibilities to the new Press Council in a matter of weeks.
A major innovation is the inclusion of representatives of the public on the Press Council, along with representatives of the newspaper publishers and editors and journalists of newspapers.
The proposed child pornography definition within the Press Code is intended to conform to the definition in the new Film and Publications Amendment Bill currently before Parliament. The exact wording of the definition will be decided upon within the next few weeks.
The process of selecting the office bearers for the new Press Council is underway. A judge has agreed to chair the Appointment Panel which will have the task of finding a new press ombudsman and chairperson of the Appeal Panel to replace those whose term of office expires at the end of June 2007.
The criteria for selection may be found on www.ombudsman.org.za.
