New press council for SA newspapers

A new Press Council is being established by the newspapers of South Africa, the Founding Bodies Committee of the Press Ombudsman's Office announced late last week. This body will take over the administration of the Offices of the Press Ombudsman and Appeal Panel and among its responsibilities will be amending the Press Code to include the definition and prohibition of child pornography.

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.