State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 her source while on the witness stand. • DATE: November 18, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: SA media VIOLATIONS: Legislation (legal action) L awyers for a Cape businessman have applied for an urgent interdict and have brought an Access to Information challenge against the Cape Argus newspaper to prevent it from publishing an article, which they allege is “defamatory” and “injures [their] client’s dignity.” George Hadjidakis, a major shareholder in the South African 7-Eleven chain and chairperson of the Premier Soccer League club Hellenic, plans to use the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to try to force the paper to hand over a draft of an article for his personal perusal before it is published. • DATE: November 13, 2003 PERSONS/INSTITUTIONS: Mail & Guardian VIOLATIONS: Victory (positive judgement) O n November 13 2003, Judge Essop Patel delivered a ruling that should give some relief to media operations and journalists who are harassed by sources and others threatening litigation to obtain copies of news articles before they are published, MISA said. Judge Patel ruled in the Pretoria High Court that it would be an unnecessary burden for newspapers to hand over copies of articles and reports for public preview. In a case involving the Mail and Guardian newspaper and Positioning Corporate Underwriters and Insurance Consultants (PCUIC), Justice Patel found that if he allowed an application for an interdict for PCUIC to preview an unpublished story, he would create a precedent for a “pattern of repeatedly restraining the media.” In other words, granting of previews could constitute unnecessary restraint of media freedom by allowing prior censorship. So This Is Democracy? 2003 80 Media Institute of Southern Africa