AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2010 Executive Summary South Africa is governed by a constitution, adopted in 1996, which is widely respected as one of the most progressive in the world. It guarantees and protects the right to freedom of expression, including media freedom, the right to access to information and the independence of broadcasting regulation. In recent years, though, these protections are being increasingly challenged in practice, or by proposals for new legislation. The tone of the political discourse in South Africa is becoming sharper, with frequent community protests against poor government services and harsh criticism of corruption and greed in government circles from a broad spectrum of society. Government at all levels, as well as sections of the African National Congress, react defensively. Critics are labelled “unpatriotic”, “enemies” or “counter-revolutionaries”. Police often over-react against citizens expressing critical views. Whistleblowers feel increasingly insecure: there are reports of people who revealed, or were about to reveal, instances of corruption to the press being threatened or even killed. There is suspicion that “spooks are everywhere”. The right of access to information is under threat by a Protection of Information Bill presently under consideration in parliament. The Bill, if enacted, would allow state officials at all levels of government to classify documents or information as secret to protect the “national interest” or “national security”, both concepts being defined very broadly. There are dozens of dailies and weeklies on the market, potentially giving readers a wide choice of sources of information. However, the print media are largely confined to a readership in urban and peri-urban areas and reach about 20 per cent of the population only. Newspaper prices are unaffordable for many, given the large numbers of unemployed and people living exclusively on meagre social grants. The majority of newspapers are published in English or Afrikaans, and thus inaccessible for the majority. Four major companies dominate the newspaper and magazine industry: between them they own the majority of mainstream titles and control 90 percent of the print media sector. The Media Development and Diversity Agency, established by law to help create a more diverse landscape by assisting community radios and small newspapers with AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2010 5