Bloggers 4 Free Press

Sipho Hlongwane issued a call for bloggers to join a Bloggers 4 Free Press campaign. (#speakZA on twitter)

The ANCYL has been up to all sorts of nonsense of late, and one of it's most sinister moves has been against the press. Details can be found here and here.

We are all free to criticise the press, in the same way we are free to criticise anyone (including our civil society and political leaders). I often complain about our press, and I do think they sometimes display serious biases and blind spots. I think the ANCYL's gripes with the press are sometimes legitimate.

BUT freedom of speech and the free press are cornerstones of democracy. We may disagree with someone, but that doesn't remove the right they have to speak. And a free press is a vital component of democracy, a tool that allows citizen's to keep their governments in check.

It is time to be concerned when political organisations victimise journalists(*) and try to limit their freedoms. In this case the ANCYL crossed way over ethical boundaries.

So today we stand for freedom of the press.


(*) I can hear someone respond to this: "But what about when journalists victimise Malema and company? Don't they have the right to respond?"
Of course they do. If the press have published untrue things about them, then they can and should take action against the newspapers. There are formal avenues for them to do this.
But Malema is also a public figure, who purposefully puts himself in the public eye. He must expect the press to follow him. And for the ANCYL to resort to this present sort of underhanded bullying of the press - it is not only unacceptable behaviour, but it is a very negative reflection of the ANCYL, that they apparently don't value the freedom of the press.
It is easy to support some ideal, like a free press, when it is a abstract idea that doesn't affect ourselves or our organisations. The test of our commitment comes when submission to the ideal will cost us something. Then you can see how strongly the ideal was held in the first place. The ANCYL appear to be failing this test.