The threat of a media appeals tribunal and the anti-media rhetoric created by the ruling party is fueling violence against journalists‚ the director in the Press Council Joe Thloloe said.
Thloloe was speaking at the Daily Maverick Gathering‚ discussing the role of the media in society. Thloloe said that the ANC had been part of the constitutional assembly responsible for creating Section 16 of the Constitution which deals with freedom of speech and the media but pushed the "ominous threat of a media appeals tribunal".
He said this also encouraged an anti-media rhetoric which could be fueling violence against journalists by groups like the Black First Land First (BLF)‚ the people of Coligny in the North West and increasing harassment by the police.
The ANC spoke with a "forked tongue" for admonishing the BLF for attacking journalists while "inadvertently encouraging" anti-media sentiment among groups like the BLF by pushing for a media appeals tribunal.
"It is encouraging the BLF in its anti-democratic posture and very soon journalists will not be free to do their work‚" he said.
"The threat of an appeals tribunal does not worry me‚ the Constitutional Court will rule against it but by the time we get there‚ the taxpayer's money will have been wasted and publishers will have been pulled into court for years before we get there."
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