The chaos and shame of the NRM primary elections, which climaxed into the delegates’ conference at Namboole recently, gave journalists a lot of news to cover. Then the journalists decided to become part of the news. The media reported that some journalists covering the NRM delegates’ conference asked for and received sh4m from party officials. [more]

South African media organisations have welcomed the support shown by ordinary citizens against the proposed Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal. Last week civil organisations sent a petition to ANC officials during the national general council condemning what they viewed as a huge threat to media freedom, which is a "key aspect of SA's young democracy".

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CHIEF Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has said the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) allegation that his ministry is the most secretive is out of malice and ill will against the Government. MISA Zambia yesterday launched a report in which it said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services was the most secretive institution, while the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) won the e-governance award for its informative website.[more]

Mozambique has some of the most secretive public institutions in southern Africa, accuses the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa), in a report entitled "Government Secrecy in an Information Age". The report, released in Maputo on Tuesday, is an annual survey on how open, or how secretive, state institutions in southern Africa are, and it covers eight of the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).[more]

In two days Nigeria will celebrate fifty years of political independence from Great Britain. There has been much criticism of the material cost of celebration as wasteful and excessive. Many say there's nothing to show for the golden jubilee by way of a qualitative difference in the people's lives, contrary to the promise of independence. A good example is Dr. Mohammed Salami, a retired permanent secretary, who, at last week's Akintola Williams lecture organised by the Nigeria-Britain Association, urged Britain to withhold or vote against any aid due to Nigeria because it would not be judiciously spent.[more]

In most repressive countries, government censors like to toil in the shadows, maintaining a cover of deniability as they block citizens’ access to information. It is gratifying to see that the Internet and Google are making their job tougher. [more]

Kenya uses citizen media as an interactive tool to address issues of good governance following the 2008 post-elections violence. A greater engagement of the citizen in the upcoming reforms should be made possible with the collective use of traditional media, SMS and online social networking tools.

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IN RECENT weeks, South African media institutions have, understandably, been vociferously opposing the proposed Protection of Information Bill and media appeals tribunal, pointing to the stifling effect such changes are likely to have on access to information and on the fight against corruption. [more]

As SA’s journalists continue to oppose the proposed Protection of Information Bill and an ANC proposal for a statutory Media Appeals Tribunal, they might look to the Kenyan media for lessons. Journalism.co.za correspondent Dennis Itumbi helped coordinate protests in that country, and writes that Kenyan media had to take to the streets twice before the government withdrew repressive legislation from the floor of parliament.[more]

Cape Town - It seems increasingly likely that Parliament will be requested to launch an investigation into the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal. ANC delegates at the party's national general council (NGC) on Wednesday had a "robust" debate about the media, but agreed on the necessity for regulation of the media. [more]