Attacks on media an assault on democracy

Ajournalist who reports for this paper from the Garden Route has been forced to leave her Plettenberg Bay home after intimidating messages were posted on a WhatsApp group about her coverage of clashes between foreigners and locals in Kwanokuthula. The messages describe our reporter and anyone calling for calm in the area as “snakes” who must be “watched”.

The reporter was named in the messages and her address was published.

Earlier this month, the same reporter was confronted in what she says was a threatening manner while busy with her duties.

On one occasion, she was forced to delete footage from her cellphone.

These are not just attempts to intimidate a reporter and this newspaper, but threats to the right to information that is enjoyed by you, our readers.

Such attacks on media freedom are utterly unacceptable. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Elsewhere in our country, other journalists have reported being intimidated while covering incidents involving Operation Dudula; other reporters while on assignments have been assaulted and had equipment stolen by criminals; cyber threats and insults against journalists frequently occur, the more so when the journalist is a woman.

The media is, of course, not the only sector of society to suffer as a result of widespread lawlessness in this country and like other law-abiding citizens we expect the authorities to protect us.

Moreover, the government has a duty to safeguard the constitutionally entrenched right to information and freedom of expression and that means acting against those who try to intimidate journalists to silence them.

Attacks on journalists are not only awful for the individual reporter, but an assault on our democracy.

We will not allow vicious attacks to deter us from reporting fairly and accurately on the news and trust that the police will fully investigate the case involving alleged intimidation of our reporter.