This year ushered in a number of major setbacks for the media across the globe, including the threat of new, oppressive media laws, most notably in Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Hungary and Bermuda, to name but a few countries. There were also at least 66 deaths of journalists reported in 2010, down significantly from the record 110 […]

South Africa’s controversial Protection of Information Bill – which IPI and other press freedom groups had warned would gravely undermine free media – will be redrafted, South African MPs said on Friday, according to local news reports. A parliamentary ad hoc committee tasked with overseeing processing of the bill has agreed to refer to proposals […]

Thirty-three years after an Apartheid regime banned two newspapers and clamped down on anti-apartheid activists and associations, South Africa recognized what is commonly known as “Black Wednesday” with a series of events around the country. In the country to lobby against proposed media regulations, IPI Acting Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said, “Today is a day […]

One week after sending an open letter to South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma expressing concern at moves by the government and the ruling ANC party to pass an Information Bill and create a Media Appeals Tribunal answerable to Parliament, the International Press Institute (IPI) today called on South African Minister for State Security Siyabonga Cwele to seriously […]