Media freedom
[Source: http://citizen.co.za/190905/anc-warns-media-hands-off-the-president/ by Amanda Watson. Photo: Valentina Nicol.]
First the ANC deemed a cartoon on Eyewitness News unsavoury.
Then yesterday the ANC Youth League decided that a May editorial in the Mail & Guardian which “urged readers to oppose the ANC” simply was not on. Read more
[Source: http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/media/2014/05/27/reconfigured-ministry-raises-worries-over-sabc by Thabiso Mochiko & Khulekani Magubane.]
Industry experts and the opposition have decried the government’s decision to group the public broadcaster and state communication entities under one ministry.
This, they argue, raises concern about the independence of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in particular. Read more
[Source: http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-05-27-propaganda-makeover-communications-ministry-to-spread-the-good-story-gospel/#.U4VgpLmKDIV Ranjeni Munusamy.]
Since President Jacob Zuma announced his new executive on Sunday night, there has been wide-ranging criticism of its inordinate size and the fact that it is a hotchpotch team which rewards loyalists and satisfies ANC interests rather than the country’s. Is this the best team to ensure South Africa’s future success? Most definitely not. Still, the country cannot afford this team to fail. Data released by Stats SA on Tuesday shows further shrinking of the economy and the term “recession” has filtered back into parlance. Read more
[Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2014-05-26-propaganda-ministry-is-a-go-without-mac by Phillip de Wet.]
What used to be communications becomes good old post and telecommunications again – while what should be “new communications” is simply propaganda.
The whispers that started weeks ago were wrong, as they so often are: presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj will not be the minister for propaganda after all. Read more
[Source: http://fwdeklerk.org/index.php/en/latest/news/260-article-world-press-freedom-day-2014-stopping-the-presses by Jacques du Preez.]
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of a UNESCO General Conference. Since then every 3rd of May is an anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek and is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day. It is an opportunity to: