Abstract
The hope that South Africa would be a beacon of media freedom and plurality when apartheid ended with the election of President Nelson Mandela has, sadly, faded. This erosion of media freedom has mirrored the gradual loss of support for the governing party, the ANC. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the media have come in for intense pressure as they fulfilled their obligation to act as the nation’s watchdog. As one commentator observed: ‘The ANC does not like a free and independently owned press with its watchdog capabilities’. Another commentator, the Economic Freedom Fighter’s Member of Parliament Fana Mokoena, asked: ‘The SABC is a microcosm of South Africa when all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. How did this happen?’. This article discusses the decline of media freedom in South Africa and explores the causes for the decline.
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