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Tomorrow is World Press Freedom Day. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) annually organises this day to highlight the importance of the freedom of the press, the freedom of expression and the power that these freedoms can have to entrench human rights, and reinforce democracy and transparent governance.

The DA fully supports this initiative and all of the values it underpins.
Unfortunately there is much going on in South Africa that undermines our country’s commitment to the freedom of the press. The Secrecy Bill, the ruling party's attempts to regulate the media with a tribunal, regular attacks on the editorial independence of the media by leaders in government, and the use of government advertising expenditure to manipulate the media all undermine the freedom of our press and the freedom of expression.

The attempts by government to exert more control over the media reflects in our ranking on the Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Index, where we fell from 38th to 42nd in the world from 2010 to 2011.

A free, fair and credible media requires:
Proper self-regulation, free of government intervention
An ombudsman empowered to enforce the rules of the game
Ensuring that digital media is also covered by the press code
A mechanism to address third party complaints

We believe that the Press Freedom Commission’s proposed solutions, presented last week, will achieve these objectives. These proposals, which essentially aim to strengthen the media’s ability to regulate itself, should be implemented as soon as possible.

The freedom and integrity of our media should be safeguarded at all costs as they are vital prerequisites for a healthy democracy and vibrant civil society.