South Africa
African National Congress discuss possible media regulations at mid-term conferencePosted Oct 6 2010
At the party’s mid-term policy review conference, ruling African National Congress (ANC) delegates met to iron out the details of the party’s heavily criticized media bills on September 22, South Africa’s News24 reports.
The Protection of Information Bill would allow heads of government agencies to label broad groups of information as capable of compromising “national interest.” Journalists who disclose such information would face imprisonment for 3 to 25 years.
In addition, the party aims to establish a media appeals tribunal, answerable to Parliament that would hear complaints of unfair reporting.
The meeting took place just over one month after the ANC proposed it’s Protection of Information Bill on August 16, and just days after hundreds of demonstrators marched in Johannesburg protest of the media crackdown on September 18.