TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Moves afoot to fix Eskom’s debt problem

      4 July 2022

      Audi South Africa to offer free connectivity upgrades

      4 July 2022

      Shock fuel price increase announced

      4 July 2022

      Wiocc’s data centre business, OADC, appoints CEO

      4 July 2022

      Google’s Equiano cable lands in Namibia

      3 July 2022
    • World

      Tether fails to calm jittery nerves

      4 July 2022

      EU to impose wide-ranging new rules on the crypto industry

      3 July 2022

      Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows files for bankruptcy

      3 July 2022

      Meta girds for ‘fierce’ headwinds

      1 July 2022

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Hlaudi draws fire from abroad

    Hlaudi draws fire from abroad

    News By Editor16 July 2014
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Hlaudi Motsoeneng
    Hlaudi Motsoeneng

    An international organisation that promotes press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has warned controversial SABC chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng against taking South Africa’s media freedom backwards.

    CPJ was reacting to Motsoeneng’s proposal to license journalists and increase government regulation of the media. In a letter to Motsoeneng, CPJ expressed concern at what it said were the COO’s “recent statements against media freedom”.

    “South Africa must not become a country to which repressive governments can point in their efforts to legitimise press freedom violations,” said the letter signed by CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

    The letter, copied to communications minister Faith Muthambi — who controversially confirmed Motsoeneng to the position of permanent COO — as well as chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on communications Joyce Moloi-Moropa, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and director of the Press Council Joe Thloloe, among others, was the first reaction from an international media rights body to Motsoeneng’s proposal.

    “CPJ research shows that repressive governments use licensing as a way to suppress critical reporting,” the organisation said, adding that media freedom was a “critical element in the fabric of the new society currently under construction in South Africa”.

    Faith Muthambi
    Faith Muthambi

    South Africa’s neighbour Zimbabwe has seen weakened media freedom since it introduced the licensing of journalists. “The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials,” the CPJ said. “It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour.”

    Motsoeneng proposed the licensing of journalists about two weeks ago, saying those who got out of line should be stripped of their licences. He later vowed in a New Age newspaper interview to make a formal submission to that effect to Muthambi. “We will be making these submissions,” he told the newspaper.

    “I am surprised at how Sanef [the South African National Editors’ Forum] has opposed this. This means that they are not doing their job properly,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The CPJ said the right to express opinions and share information is guaranteed universally under the universal declaration of human rights, the African charter on human and people’s rights and the South African constitution.

    “The notion of licensing journalists has been tried before — and rejected,” Simon said.

    CPJ advised Motsoeneng rather to contribute to preserving media freedom. “CPJ urges you to nurture the country’s hard-won freedom and the role of lively, critical and courageous media. It is the job of journalists to ask questions on behalf of citizens and to hold accountable those in power so that the benefits of democracy and development are shared equally among all communities.”

    In his job at the SABC, Motsoeneng has been advocating for 70% of positive news stories, saying that negative news does not build the country.  — (c) 2014 Mail & Guardian

    • Visit the Mail & Guardian Online, the smart news source
    Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ Faith Muthambi Joel Simon Joyce Moloi-Moropa
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleStandard Bank in digital wallet venture
    Next Article Isaac Mophatlane new CEO at BCX

    Related Posts

    Moves afoot to fix Eskom’s debt problem

    4 July 2022

    Audi South Africa to offer free connectivity upgrades

    4 July 2022

    Shock fuel price increase announced

    4 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    The MSP value proposition has evolved – here’s why it matters

    4 July 2022

    Presenting the cloud finance in South Africa survey with AWCape and Sage

    4 July 2022

    The Equiano cable has landed

    4 July 2022
    Opinion

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.