The application was led by Sanef chairperson Mahlatse Gallens - who is also political editor at News24 - in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) appeared in court in Johannesburg on Thursday to ask the court for an urgent interdict against BLF.

An assault on political commentator Karima Brown was highlighted as well as a number of threatening tweets.

Advocate Brendon Shabangu for BLF said some of the tweets were sent in jest. He further attempted to argue that journalists were bypassing police and going straight to court. He said this was an abuse of court processes.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi for Sanef replied by saying Brown was assaulted in the presence of police, therefore the court should stop the criminal act.

“Why must the court wait for another journalist to be assaulted before it acts?”

Mngxitama strongly denied that the BLF's recent protest action against journalists amounted to harassment, intimidation or threat, or an attack on media independence.

"I want to set the record straight that no one is targeted and, as BLF, we have never planned to harass individuals, including applicants," Mngxitama said in a replying affidavit.

He said the white journalists it had mentioned in a list were sensationalising their protests and statements, to create "media hysteria".

Sanef wants BLF to stop harassing, intimidating, assaulting and threatening journalists and editors over their reporting on state capture and corruption.

Last Thursday Business Day editor Tim Cohen was assaulted as he tried to take a picture of BLF supporters gathered outside Tiso Blackstar editor at large Peter Bruce's home in Johannesburg.

Bruce was targeted the week before in a series of articles and secretly taken photographs relating to his private life, indicating that he had been spied on.

He wrote a column in Business Day about the surveillance and mentioned Mngxitama as a ''luckless land reformer'' who had tweeted to him, "You going to get a heart attack Peter; better prepare yourself" before the surveillance footage and personal information was published on a site complaining about White Monopoly Capital (WMC).

During Thursday's protest the words, "Land or death" had been written on Bruce's garage as placards carried by demonstrators read, "Peter you murder the truth" and "Peter propagandist of WMC".

The applicants with Sanef are:

Business Day editor Tim Cohen; Peter Bruce;  Amabhungane investigative journalist Sam Sole; News24 editor Adriaan Basson; EWN journalist and political commentator Stephen Grootes; Columnist Max du Preez; EWN reporter Barry Bateman; Karima Brown; Political commentator and talk show host Eusebius McKaiser; Huffington Post editor-at-large Ferial Haffajee and Primedia Group editor-in-chief Katy Katopodis.

News24