The ANC said it had a good record on free speech in the country's vibrant media and said the press was over-reacting to the planned Media Appeals Tribunal, which would be accountable to parliament.

"The aim is to strengthen the self-regulation mechanism of the print media ... there is no such thing as an attack on media freedom," ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the South African National Editors Forum, the SAPA news agency reported.

At a congress in December the party called for the creation of a tribunal through which the public could file complaints against the media.

How the new body would work in practice is not yet clear. South Africa already has an press ombudsman that deals with complaints.

Relations between South Africa's government and its independent media has been strained at times, with ANC leaders often accusing it of harbouring a racist agenda.

"As usual the media are overreacting," Motlanthe said. "They say that the ANC is hyper-sensitive to criticism but look at the reaction of the media to this (the tribunal). They see it as an attack on media freedom," he said.

Pallo Jordan, a senior ANC member and minister of arts and culture, said media freedom had been "on the masthead of the ANC since its inception."

"There is no (South African) political party with a comparable record on media freedom," SAPA quoted him as saying.

"We value it ... it lends quality to our democracy and it should prevail," he added.

South Africa's print media is mainly privately owned, while the broadcast media is still dominated by state-owned SABC.