Media freedom in South Africa: the two-part formula for securing freedom of expression.

In October, those of us working in the media sector and related fields pause to remember the terrible events of Black Wednesday in 1977. On that day, the apartheid government detained and banned a number of Black Consciousness Movement aligned activists and also shut down three newspapers, in an overt attempt to muzzle the critical press. Forty years later, it is important to acknowledge the advancements for media freedom since those dark times. Today media freedom is protected by Constitutional law. Small pockets of truly excellent investigative journalism have had an undeniable impact on the political life of the country – the recent work by Amabhungane and Daily Maverick on the Gupta Leaks saga is one example.

But just because things are not as bad as they were during apartheid does not mean that the media system is entirely free or free from threat. Nor does it indicate that the sector is operating as well as it should, according to democratic principles. The current threats to journalistic freedom of expression rights are interlinked, but they can be broadly defined in three categories: legislative threats, threats from surveillance and direct threats.

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