Right2Know warns of political threat to press freedom
This article was published online by eNCA on 19 October 2013. Watch the video interview here.
October 19, 1977 was a turning point in South African history.
On Black Wednesday, as the day became known, the apartheid state banned newspapers and detained Black Consciousness activists.
Certain things shouldn’t be talked about, certain things shouldn’t be investigated, those are out of bounds.
Speaking ahead of the anniversary of Black Wednesday, the Gauteng chairman of the Right2Know Campaign warned about “creeping political censorship” that threatens to hamper a free and effective press.
The Right2Know Campaign’s Dale McKinley cautioned that while the institutional framework is in place to ensure media freedom, there is a “creeping attack on the media in the name of transformation and in the name of telling a different kind of story”.
McKinley said this approach masks a form of censorship that is trying to frame the national discourse in a particular way.
There is growing political pressure that “certain things shouldn’t be talked about, certain things shouldn’t be investigated, those are out of bounds — and that’s what we’re concerned about – a creeping censorship and a narrowing of the space for the media to do its job.”
While the Protection of State Information Bill remains an overt legislative threat to press freedom, McKinley pointed to instances of self-censorship and political pressure.
For example, Right2Know has expressed concern about the SABC’s cancellation of The Big Debate, which McKinley said was a “hard-hitting” show that brought government and civil society together.
He also pointed to instances of harassment and arrest of investigate journalists looking into state corruption.
McKinley pointed out that the threat to media freedom is not specific to South Africa, but insisted that the public be especially vigilant because of our history of censorship and media suppression.
This article (and video interview) above was published online by – eNCA on 19 October 2013
