2014 was an important year for the media. The South African courts handed down a number of significant rulings – some good, some bad, and some ugly. I’ll discuss some of the most important cases here. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Category: South Africa (Page 4 of 6)
Judge Thokozile Masipa has, today, sentenced Oscar Pistorius to 5 years’ imprisonment in respect of his conviction for culpable homicide. Judge Masipa’s judgment in respect of the conviction, handed down last month, led to a sea of divided opinion. Continue reading
On Sunday night, Australia’s Channel 7 broadcast a video showing Oscar Pistorius apparently re-enacting various moments from the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp. The footage was reportedly filmed in October 2013 by a US company, The Evidence Room, and reports say that it was commissioned by the defence team to assist with trial preparation in order to reconstruct Oscar Pistorius’ version of events. Continue reading
South Africa: The Oscar Trial and the curious case of the media orders – Dario Milo and Stuart Scott
In an article we wrote recently for Sunday Times we briefly touched on three orders relating to the media that we suggest were incorrectly made by Judge Masipa during the Oscar Pistorius trial (for more detail on the first two orders see the earlier post on broadcasting the Oscar trial). Continue reading
The recent European Court of Justice ruling (available here) that effectively granted a Spanish national ‘a right to be forgotten’ has caused much stir as we wait to see precisely what implications this decision will have. As expected, Google has reportedly received a flood of requests from people seeking to have their information removed from the Google search engine, including politicians, public figures and persons with criminal records. Continue reading
Whether cameras should be allowed into our courtrooms has been a much debated issue for over 20 years. In England and Wales the Supreme Court has been been filmed since its creation in 2009, whilst the Court of Appeal finally let the television cameras in on the 31st October 2013. So why should England and Wales take notice of the media’s handling of the Oscar Pistorius trial? Have we not now accepted cameras in our courts? Continue reading
On Friday, 4 April 2014, in the case of African National Congress v Democratic Alliance ([2014] ZAGPJHC 58), the the Johannesburg High Court that it was ‘fair comment’ for the Democratic Alliance (DA) to label President Zuma a thief in a bulk SMS sent to over 1.5 million recipients last month. The judgment raises important questions about the boundaries of free speech in a democratic society. Continue reading
In the past weeks, hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been able to hear and see on television, radio and the Internet the evidence being led in the criminal trial of Oscar Pistorius. Pistorius stands accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s morning last year. Continue reading
Last year was a busy year for the media in South Africa. There have again been a number of court decisions that have given the media the breathing space it needs to function in our democracy. Continue reading
What do President Jacob Zuma and Oscar Pistorius have in common? In both their cases, the courts commented on the potentially harmful impact on the administration of justice of publicity about the case. Continue reading
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