South African Government Trying To Pass New Law To Muzzle The Press

from the free-speech-be-damned dept

Mon, Aug 23rd 2010 10:07pm — Mike Masnick

Kevin Donovan points us to news of a proposed media law in South Africa that could seriously muzzle the press by letting the government easily declare certain information to be in the "national interest," and then setting potential jail sentences of 3 to 25 years to anyone who reveals that information. What's got people scared is how broadly defined "national interests" are: "all matters relating to the advancement of the public good" and "the survival and security of the state." Is reporting on corruption in the government potentially against "the survival and security of the state"? Possibly. And with the press revealing some scandals recently, the government hasn't been too happy:

But fears about the government's motives have flared since Aug. 4, when a Sunday Times reporter, Mzilikazi wa Afrika, was arrested on fraud charges. Days earlier, he and another reporter had written a front-page article reporting that the national police chief, Bheki Cele, had approved what the paper called a suspicious property deal with a politically connected businessman without competitive bidding.

The newspaper and Mr. wa Afrika said he was seized by officers who had no warrant for his arrest, even though he was on his way to turn himself in, and he was not provided access to his lawyer for hours. The police searched his home, he said, taking his reporting notebooks. During questioning the following morning, the police asked him if he had been trying to discredit senior A.N.C. officials, he said.

The article does admit that some of the reporting on the government has been sloppy at best, but that's hardly an excuse to potentially create a massive press censorship policy.

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Filed Under: censorship, journalism, south africa

8 Comments

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Pixelation, 23 Aug 2010 @ 10:43pm

Some of the things I read about happening here in the US make me cringe. This story reminds me that perhaps it isn't so bad here.
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Margaret Jacks Hall, 23 Aug 2010 @ 11:04pm

Please keep Kevin around!
This article is a great improvement. I counted only 4 weasel words.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2010 @ 11:28pm

Corruption Causes Poverty
The reason why the Third World is the Third World (that is, dirt poor) is criminality. Any economist will tell you that the fundamental cause of an economy performing poorly is poor capital formation. That in turn is caused by bad guys stealing the money which should have been invested in capital goods -- that is, growing the economy. So the economy stays at a low level, thereby causing widespread poverty. Politically well-connected criminals always demand censorship to hide their own bad behaviour. That is why no politician can ever be trusted with any kind of censorship system. It will always get abused.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2010 @ 12:09am

who would have though? corruption in south africa!
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haiku, 24 Aug 2010 @ 3:22am

Now that the soccer world cup is over Zuma's & his cronies no longer have any reason to be circumspect ...
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2010 @ 3:43am

If only they'd pass a law to muzzle the vuvuzela.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2010 @ 6:49am

Sounds like it is time for another revolution.
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Obscure, 24 Aug 2010 @ 7:57am

Alas, when Mandela dies
When the conscience of the country dies, S.A. will turn into a real hellhole.
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