Commercial Pressure As Insidious As Political

Wise words on the media--Dictynna

Anton Harber
Johannesburg

SOUTH Africans celebrated International Media Freedom Day yesterday secure in the fact that we have minimal government interference in our media.

Now the focus shifts to other forms of control or influence over our public debate. As political control over the media recedes, commercial influence steps in. And the lesson we are learning is that it can be almost as damaging to the flow of information and quality of national debate as direct political interference.