South Africa is on par in the “satisfactory” category with countries like Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, the UK, Austria and Uruguay.
Glenda Daniels, University of the Witwatersrand It’s pleasing that the latest World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters without Borders rates the state of press freedom in South Africa as “satisfactory”. Satisfactory is the second best category after “good”.
South Africa is on par in the “satisfactory” category with countries like Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, the UK, Austria and Uruguay. In Africa it joins the ranks of Namibia, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
The index was released ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.
The World Press Freedom Index looks at several factors in ranking countries. It examines whether and how many journalists were killed in a particular country and if journalists have been jailed. It also considers countries’ legislative framework as well as national debates about the media.
In South Africa’s case the researchers would have taken into account comments made by the country’s head of state President Cyril Ramaphosa as well as those made by the leader of second largest opposition party, Julius Malema. Malema has a chequered history with the media, openly attacking it at times and threatening journalists on social media.
This could be one of the reasons why South Africa was put in the category of “satisfactory”. While there has been hostility towards the media, no journalists have been killed or jailed. Nor has Ramaphosa used vitriolic expletives against journalists – as US President Donald Trump has done – when challenged.
I believe South Africa is in the category it deserves, though there are some worrying trends that need to be watched closely. These might explain why the country has dropped three places since last year. Hints of these emerged recently with the deputy secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC) attacked a journalist for asking a questions she didn’t like. The other worrying trend has been a rise in misogyny on social media directed at women journalists.
There is an obvious and direct relationship between democracy, freedom of the press, diversity of media, freedom of expression. When democracy gets squeezed, journalists get the backlash. When journalists get the backlash democracy itself is squeezed. [image: Malema1-750×375.jpg]
