GAYE DAVIS
Political Bureau
As opposition to the Protection of Information Bill mounts, the ANC has signalled that its proposal for a media appeals tribunal will soon be on the parliamentary agenda.
Stella Ndabeni, ANC whip on the National Assembly’s communications committee, said that while media freedom “must be protected and promoted”, with rights came responsibilities – “hence the need for a balanced, independent mechanism to adjudicate”.
“An independent media appeals tribunal will be brought back on to the agenda,” Ndabeni said during the Government Communication and Information System budget vote debate yesterday.
The ANC resolved at its national conference in Polokwane in 2007 that the establishment of a media tribunal be explored. The communications portfolio committee would be in charge of canvassing opinion.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, after a meeting between cabinet members and the SA National Editors’ Forum in October, indicated that the ANC would first consider the outcome of an in-depth review of self-regulation of the print media by the Press Council and an independent group of eminent persons.
The media appeals tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill have come under sustained fire as twin threats to media freedom.