(MISA/IFEX) – Interference in newspapers’ content could result from the establishment of the “Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA)” proposed by the government, Print Media SA has warned. In a foreword to the draft position paper on the agency, released for comment in November 2000, Minister in the office of the President Essop Pahad said […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Interference in newspapers’ content could result from the establishment of the “Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA)” proposed by the government, Print Media SA has warned.
In a foreword to the draft position paper on the agency, released for comment in November 2000, Minister in the office of the President Essop Pahad said the agency would not interfere with the content of any newspaper, television or radio station. “Its primary purpose is to help create an enabling environment for media to develop and meet the diverse needs of all South Africans,” he stated.
But in its response to the paper, Print Media SA said the agency had too wide a mandate, stating “(It) creates the potential for intervention in virtually every area of the publishing industry in SA [South Africa]”. The 604-member industry body welcomed the decision not to give regulatory powers to the agency.
“(However) Print Media SA must caution that a wide lobbying or advocacy role for the MDDA in regard to regulatory issues would inevitably drag it into conflict with some of its principal stakeholders. It would involve the agency in the decisions of various independent authorities such as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and the Competition Commission”, Print Media SA said.
The agency’s wide mandate could impinge at different levels on the media’s right to edit, staff, structure and conduct themselves within the law, and could make the agency a target for sectarian political appropriation.
“The South African media is in danger of becoming a highly regulated industry which could be vulnerable to political pressure from a number of institutions or quarters”, Print Media SA noted.
Source: South African News Agency (SAPA)
