“On this day the fundamental principles of media freedom are celebrated and evaluations are made of the role of media freedom in countries throughout the world,” said Sanef’s Media Freedom Committee Chairman, Adriaan Basson.

“It is also a day on which tribute is paid to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. In 2015 the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 72 deaths and according to UNESCO 29 journalists have died so far this year.”

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated all over the world on 3 May by editors, journalists and other media practitioners.

Basson said World Press Freedom Day provides the media with the opportunity to protest against restrictions imposed on press freedom and against attempts to intrude on the independence of the media.

“During the years of apartheid rule and is some instances after the dawn of democracy, the South African media marked this day to record their protests against media restrictions and threats to enact laws that would inhibit media freedom, but today journalists have cause to celebrate the upholding of media freedom in SA,” said Basson.

He added that this year the day was also the 25th anniversary of the adoption by Namibia of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media in Africa in 1991. The declaration led to the United Nations, two years later, proclaiming the day as World Press Freedom Day.

“Another press freedom issue South African journalists are celebrating this year is the declaration by the ruling African National Congress that legislation will be introduced in a few months to repeal the common law crime of criminal defamation which provided for journalists to be jailed for what they write,” said Basson.

“For years journalists around the world have been campaigning for the scrapping of this law which has often been used in some countries to jail critics of governments.”

ANA