4. Media owners and media professionals shall be encouraged to reach agreements to guarantee editorial independence and to prevent commercial considerations from unduly influencing media content. IX Complaints 1. A public complaints system for print or broadcasting should be available in accordance with the following principles: complaints shall be determined in accordance with established rules and codes of conduct agreed between all stakeholders; and the complaints system shall be widely accessible. 2. Any regulatory body established to hear complaints about media content, including media councils, shall be protected against political, economic or any other undue interference. Its powers shall be administrative in nature and it shall not seek to usurp the role of the courts. 3. Effective self-regulation is the best system for promoting high standards in the media. X Promoting Professionalism 1. Media practitioners shall be free to organise themselves into unions and associations. 2. The right to express oneself through the media by practising journalism shall not be subject to undue legal restrictions. XI Attacks on Media Practitioners 1. Attacks such as the murder, kidnapping, intimidation of and threats to media practitioners and others exercising their right to freedom of expression, as well as the material destruction of communications facilities, undermines independent journalism, freedom of expression and the free flow of information to the public. 2. States are under an obligation to take effective measures to prevent such attacks and, when they do occur, to investigate them, to punish perpetrators and to ensure that victims have access to effective remedies. 3. In times of conflict, States shall respect the status of media practitioners as non-combatants. XII Protecting Reputations 1. States should ensure that their laws relating to defamation conform to the following standards no one shall be found liable for true statements, opinions or statements regarding public figures which it was reasonable to make in the circumstances; public figures shall be required to tolerate a greater degree of criticism; and sanctions shall never be so severe as to inhibit the right to freedom of expression, including by others. 2. Privacy laws shall not inhibit the dissemination of information of public interest. So This Is Democracy? 2008 -305- Media Institute of Southern Africa