In this article the author emphasizes that in a polarized South African society and the given nature of the negotiationprocess, the country's constitution is bound to be flawed. The only real form of democracy and accountability in South Africa is the media, and in a powersharing deal the media will remain a critical vehicle of democracy. It is argued that self-censorship is even worse than state-censorship when it comes to hate speeches as in the case of the Peter Mokaba chant ‘Kill the Boer, kill the farmer’. The basic question editors should ask themselves is what weighs the heaviest: the interest of society, or the interest of the publication. And it is no easy question to answer, as short term interests often dictate to publishers to choose their own interests above that of society in order to survive so that the interests of society can be served in the longer term.