SAHRC not worried over media tension

2012-01-30 21:59

Johannesburg - The SA Human Rights Commission is not particularly worried about tension between the media and the government, chairperson Lawrence Mushwana said on Monday.

"In our view, this is a necessary tension and clearly you do not expect [that] there must be an intimate relationship between the media and the government," he said in a statement to the Press Freedom Commission's (PFC) public hearings in Johannesburg.

"The questions the media would ask relate to matters of democracy, accountability, openness and some... possibly some ... government officials would not want to be asked these types of questions."

The commission encouraged building a society where there would be dialogue in the country and space for ideas. Without dialogue came the risk of a journalist supplanting the feeling of the community with their own, he said.

The PFC's "Listening to SA" campaign will be held in Johannesburg again on Tuesday. It is led by former chief justice Pius Langa and is intended to examine a regulatory framework for print media in South Africa.

The open hearings are taking place at the Braamfontein recreation centre in Johannesburg.

- SAPA