Press reforms ‘will raise standards of journalism’
NEW press regulations announced in Johannesburg yesterday by the Press Council of SA would move the industry from a system of self-regulation to one of “independent co-regulation”.
This would include much stronger public participation while improving editorial standards and maintaining freedom of the press, according to the council’s chairman, Raymond Louw.
The reforms will come into effect from January 1 next year, after years of public debate and research by task teams and recommendations by the Press Freedom Commission, an initiative of the Print and Digital Media Association and South African National Editors Forum.
The regulations come at a time when the African National Congress (ANC) seems to be departing from its earlier plans to establish a media appeals tribunal overseen by Parliament, which had caused concern within the industry as it was seen as a mechanism to muzzle free press.
Mr Louw said yesterday that the changes would improve the quality of journalism while “maintaining constitutional freedom of expression and freedom of the press”.
Press ombudsman Joe Thloloe said yesterday the industry and a task team set up by the Press Council had “not accepted the idea of the state intervening in press regulation”.
He said while Parliament would still investigate systems of press regulation, it seemed like “the idea of a press tribunal has in fact been shelved”.
From next year, the system will move from one of self-regulation, to co-regulation involving “exclusively” representatives of the press and representatives of the public. The Press Council will be chaired by a retired judge and the council’s office will be bolstered with the appointment of a director — who will engage with the industry and public — and a public advocate, who will assist members of the public with complaints procedures.
Among other changes are the accommodation of third-party complaints, the removal of the waiver that complainants could not appeal to courts after an appeal process, the inclusion of “space fines” which impose an amount of space in publications for apologies in line with the seriousness of complaints, speedier handing down of findings, and possible suspension, or expulsion, from the council for repeated noncompliance by publications.
Hoosain Karjieker, president of Print and Digital Media SA, said yesterday that the acceptance of the recommendations by the Press Freedom Commission represented a “significant shift in mind-set of the stakeholders”, and the system of independent coregulation could be emulated across the world.
In April, ANC secretarygeneral Gwede Mantashe said at the launch of the Press Freedom Commission’s recommendations that he was “very comfortable” with its findings.
“The principles embodied here are very acceptable and give us what we think is a legitimate regulation of the print media,” Mr Mantashe said at the time.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed the new regulations, saying they would strengthen the independence of the media by improving the quality and credibility of journalism.
DA national spokesman Mmusi Maimane said yesterday the new regulations “will increase the general level of credibility of the press and make the council’s processes more transparent”.