In Open Letter, IPI Urges South African President Jacob Zuma to Address Press Freedom Concerns: Planned Media Appeals Tribunal and Draft Protection of Information Bill a ‘Threat'
IPI on Wednesday sent an open letter to South African President Jacob Zuma expressing concern over the African National Congress's recent call for a Media Appeals Tribunal, as well as a Protection of Information law that is currently before parliament. The Tribunal is conceived by the ruling party as an independent statutory body that would oversee the media and be accountable to parliament. South Africa's print media is currently regulated under a voluntary non-statutory Press Ombudsman system, which IPI believes is the best and most effective form of media regulation.
IPI is concerned at this current move toward statutory regulation, and alarmed at suggestions that journalists should face penalties including jail time for their reporting. Punitive measures aside, the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal would effectively put media regulation in the hands of the government, which IPI considers to be incompatible with democratic values including press freedom. The calls for the Tribunal coincide with consideration, by South Africa's National Assembly, of a bill on the protection of information, which contains provisions that IPI has previously criticized because of their potentially chilling effect on press freedom.
The full text of the letter to President Zuma can be read below:
Dear President Zuma,
I am writing today on behalf of the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of publishers, editors and leading journalists, to express our deep concern over recent moves which we fear will endanger the independence and vitality of the South African media.