Dear Jeremy,
I am deeply disappointed in the South African Communist Party and in you personally for supporting censorship in the form of a media tribunal. You have lost my respect as an intellectual and as a democrat.
The occasion for my lett...
Most media responses to the ANC's recently released discussion document have come out fighting.
The particular target is the proposed media appeals tribunal, a body that would give ruling party the final say over what the press can publish.
A...
Why oh why does this happen? Why is it that as a people and a country we have such difficulties in dealing with dissent? You would swear that if someone disagreed with your ideas it could result in you losing a limb.
I remember in the not-so-long pa...
I believe in freedom of expression. Our Constitution protects the right to freedom of expression. That is why I cannot welcome the Equality Court's ruling that Malema was guilty of hate speech when he commented on the young woman who had accused Pres...
One thing I dislike and like at the same time about the web is being anonymous. While I am always honest about my identity when I make comments or write on the web, I can understand why some people choose to be anonymous. My profile is open and I am ...
Newspapers, at present much derided and bleeding red ink, have at least one useful social function. They confine the nutters, rumour mongerers, conspiracy theorists, and bigots to their dank little holes by largely starving them of publicity.
Thos...
By Janice Winter
Last week saw one of Britain's biggest media controversies with BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time. Public debate pivoted on the media's role in guarding democratic space, with interpretations of this ...
After being criticised for the title of my previous blog I thought it necessary to write a response. Perhaps some of the readers of Thought Leader are so very worried about race that they carry around a little race injection to squeeze into unsuspect...
On Freedom Day, to celebrate fifteen years of democracy, I launched The Soapbox -- a nonpartisan online platform where young South Africans can speak out about things they feel strongly about.
Why? Because South Africa is at a crossroads. Now more...
South Africa lost one of its greatest investigative journalists and a fine thinker when Deon Basson died this week.
What endeared him to me, aside from my admiration of his understanding of insurance companies and the determination that made him o...
