South Africa
Media bill causes concernPosted Oct 29 2009
South Africa’s Cabinet approved a new harassment bill Oct. 22 that could criminalize methods of journalistic reporting. The bill is meant to protect victims of stalking who are not currently safe under the Domestic Violence Act, which solely covers stalking by a domestic partner.
The South African National Editors Forum expressed concern that the Protection of Harassment Bill’s wide definition of the term ‘harassment’ might prevent reporters, particularly those investigating in-depth, from doing their work.
The group cited a case under the UK’s similar harassment law in which a former police station clerk won £50000 in damages in a suit against The Sun newspaper for its coverage of her complaints of racist conduct by police toward an asylum seeker. The judge ruled that the tone of The Sun’s reports provoked hate mail against the clerk.
Media law specialist Dario Milo of Webber Wentzel, a South African law firm, agreed that the bill might indirectly censor media coverage.
“A media exemption for public interest reporting is required,” he said. “At the very least, the definition of 'harassment' should be read down in accordance with the constitutional protection of freedom of expression, so that legitimate and good- faith articles by the media are not hit.”