Press Council
Print Media in Johannesburg

Welcome to the site of the Press Council of South Africa, the Press Ombudsman and the Press Appeals Panel.

The mechanism is based on two pillars: a commitment to freedom of expression, including freedom of the media, and to high standards in journalistic ethics and practice. The print and online media industry believes in independent co-regulation involving exclusively representatives of the media and representatives of the public because it is the only way that the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press and other media guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic can be truly exercised. Any other form of regulation would threaten the independence of the media and freedom of expression. The judge had found in favour of the applicant, but on appeal, th. The item, the second of three under the headline Businessman convi. While this is mainly a press conference to enable us to announce the results of our deliberations about the conduct of press self-regulation, it is also an occasion for members of the public to show their interest in the conduct of the press. It is your kind of support that is essential to enable the press to carry out its functions of gathering and publishing news and information, maintaining a watchdog role over government and the private sector, ferreting out corruption, disclosing abuse of public office and mismanagement of the public’s affairs as well as promoting public discussion of the issues that arise. Their mission is to promote freedom of the press and at the same time advance excellence in the professional and ethical conduct of journalists and media houses. The current Press Council’s five-year term of office is coming to an end and it has been the practice at this time to review the Press Code, the Complaints Procedures and the council’s Constitution. They conducted a review of the recommendations of the Task Team and an intensive investigation of their own of regulation mechanisms in South Africa and selected foreign countries. Wide public interest was generated and at the public hearings conducted by both investigating teams people, ranging from academics to lawyers, others from other disciplines and members of the public came forward to present their views about the conduct of the press and their suggestions for improvements. The South African process is also in accord with the findings in 2007 by the New Zealand Press Council which reviewed the structures of press councils in the democratic world and found that 86% were non-statutory. The objections were that newspapers could now be subject to two disciplinary hearings and that admissions made in a hearing by the council’s Press Ombudsman could be used against the paper in another tribunal or that a newspaper would withhold information from the ombudsman for fear that it would be used against the paper at another tribunal or court hearing. They were intent on beating us up as they did every prisoner who arrived, but when they realised why we were in prison they turned to the warders and told them they couldn’t touch us because we were fighting for them too. It is thus appropriate to unveil the revamped Press Council and its complaints handling mechanism here, where the defenders of our Constitution are based. Personnel in the office will be beefed up: a director, an ombudsman and a public advocate and if necessary their deputies. The chair of appeals will now hear an appeal with one press member of the Panel of Adjudicators and up to three public members, with the discretion on the number resting with the chair of appeals. The Press Council and the print industry believe that this strengthened system will promote and develop ethical practice in journalism, the primary aim and objective of the Press Council. Both the current and the new constitution of the Press Council require that the outgoing council should approach the Chief Justice for his recommendations for a retired judge to serve as chairperson of the Appointments Panel. At the same time as these adverts go out, there will be others calling for applications or nominations for public representatives on the council and on the Panel of Adjudicators. We are aiming to announce the new council, the Director, the Ombudsman, Public Advocate and the members of the Panel of Adjudicators by the first week in December. At the same time we chose not to wait to make corrective interventions only when problems arise. You will recall that the industry undertook a review process of the Press Council and the Office of the PressOmbud in 2007.