According to a recent Business Day article, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has described the Press Ombudsman as a “joke” as it was “not performing its function of protecting society from the media”. He is also reported as saying that that “if the body did its work properly there would be no need for a (statutory) media tribunal”, as the ANC has proposed.

These are controversial statements that require closer scrutiny. And I find it interesting that the ANC has lodged at least two complaints with the Press Ombudsman against different newspapers in recent months; why would it do that if the Press Ombudsman is a joke? Click here to read the more.

So what is the role of the Press Ombudsman? According to the Press Council’s website:
“The Council, the Ombudsman and the Appeals Panel are a self-regulatory mechanism set up by the print media to provide impartial, expeditious and cost-effective adjudication to settle disputes between newspapers and magazines, on the one hand, and members of the public, on the other, over the editorial content of publications.
The mechanism is based on two pillars: a commitment to freedom of expression, including freedom of the press, and to excellence in journalistic practice and ethics.”

This strikes me as a far more enlightened and balanced role that the policing function envisaged by Mr Mantashe.

What do you think?

The justification for the statutory media council favoured by Mr Mantashe will be examined in a separate article to be published soon – watch out for it!