It's with a sinking feeling of déjà vu that one reads the comment and protest from media organisations around the Government's controversial, proposed amendments to the Film and Publications Act, ostensibly back on the parliamentary agenda - unchanged despite vociferous protest last year from the media and civil society - to squash child pornography, but also in its current form requiring the media to obtain Government approval for the publication of certain material, thereby giving it far more sinister overtones. It has been damned as "unconstitutional", introducing "thought police", "shades of Mugabe" and, at its most basic, requiring the news media to obtain "exemption" from publishing certain material in the interests of the public - an exemption which can be cancelled at anytime. These concerns of a few expert voices should be heeded by the many as it is only a little bit more than 10 years ago when the media was severely restricted by the apartheid government from reporting what was happening in the struggle for democracy. As a young journalist at The Star in the 1980s, it befell those of us on the night shift to read the lead stories and (mostly) those written by the political journalists of the time to our lawyers each night, to ensure they did not contravene PW Botha's draconian second State of Emergency laws which included severe restrictions on the media. And who can forget the blank holes or blacked out copy in (mostly) the Vrye Weekblad and then-Weekly Mail? It was horrible and disempowering and ensured that the majority of the population were kept in the dark as to what was happening in South Africa. Let us not forget to remember those times... the very basic tenant of democracy is a free press. As the director of the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) William Bird said in his submission to parliament last week: "This Bill represents a threat to press freedom, unmatched since the policies of the previous government." Make your voice heard! Louise Marsland, editor: editor@bizcommunity.co