to them that she was a journalist.

This increases underrepresentation in the media
and exacerbates unbalanced, misinformed, and
exclusionary reporting.

She was violently removed from the building
by four security guards and had the footage on
her mobile phone deleted.

Addressing gender disparities in the media
requires an intentional recruitment process and
the creation of safe and fair workspaces for
women.

While Standard Bank later apologised for the
treatment Mutsila experienced, the incident
highlighted
institutional
harassment
that
women journalists face when doing their jobs
and an attempt at suppressing the freedom
of the media by not only individuals, but also
corporations.

The media and the law in
South Africa

In a separate incident, staff at a South African
Post Office branch manhandled and denied
access to eNCA journalist Hloni Mtimkulu,
where she was interviewing beneficiaries of
the government grants on delays and nonpayments.

In March 2024, the Film and Publication
Board (FPB) published a notice to combat
misinformation and disinformation online ahead
of the 2024 general elections in South Africa.
In the notice, FPB stated that it has identified
misinformation, disinformation and fake news
to be harmful due to the potential to incite
violence, promulgate war and hate speech
and would take steps to mitigate this risk by
obligating internet service providers to take
considerable measures to prevent prohibited
content such as misinformation, disinformation
and fake news, and content which amounts to
propaganda for war, violence and hatred.

While South Africa is considered to be ahead of
many countries in terms of gender parity in the
newsroom, there is a long way to go in ensuring
inclusion and equity within the media.
Most decision-making positions, such as
editor-in-chief, are still occupied predominantly
by males, and there is still a considerable gender
pay gap.
A Reuters Institute report states that only 29%
of top editors in South Africa are women. (9)

Failure to comply would result in a fine,

Daily Maverick journalist Lerato Mutsila is thrown out of the Standard Bank headquarters in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on 19
September 2023 (CREDIT: Kiara Affat)
STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023

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