(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is an 18 August WPFC press statement: WPFC concerned over South African government’s attempts to muzzle media The World Press Freedom Committee has learned with deep concern about the South African government’s attack on the SA media for publishing news reports from Pakistan about alleged terrorist plots to target buildings and […]
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is an 18 August WPFC press statement:
WPFC concerned over South African government’s attempts to muzzle media
The World Press Freedom Committee has learned with deep concern about the South African government’s attack on the SA media for publishing news reports from Pakistan about alleged terrorist plots to target buildings and sports and tourist venues in South Africa.
At a meeting on August 4, the SA cabinet stated that the government expressed its “outrage” at the manner in which reports about these terrorist plots were aired “without any credible substantiation from security agencies in our country and in Pakistan”. The cabinet called on the media “to exercise restraint in dealing with these matters, by ensuring that reports on these issues are based on fact, and do not lead to unwarranted alarm among the public”.
The SA media acted on reports from Pakistan by the reputable French news agency, Agence France-Presse, and against a background where the country had been told earlier by national police commissioner Jackie Selebi, backed up by government ministers, that the SA police had foiled an al-Qaeda plot to disrupt the country’s April general elections and had arrested and deported the suspects.
Before publishing the latest plot allegations, journalists had called the presidency and other government departments who referred them to security agencies which refused to comment on the record. When one newspaper eventually persuaded two government spokesmen to comment officially, they said they had no official confirmation of the threats.
In view of the circumstances, the WPFC regards the government’s action as threatening and an unwarranted attempt to coerce the media into self-censorship and to stop it from reporting important news. It notes, too, that the government appears to have ignored guarantees of freedom of expression and freedom of the media contained in SA’s constitution.
The World Press Freedom Committee is based in Washington, DC, in the United States and includes 45 journalistic organizations on six continents representing labor and management in the print and broadcasting media.
