Online publishers decry censorship law

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 25 Oct 2006

The Online Publishers` Association (OPA) has joined the chorus of protest against mooted amendments to the Film and Publication Act, which it believes will impose pre-publication censorship.

Media groups, including the SA National Editors Forum, the Freedom of Expression Institute, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), Print Media SA, the Internet Service Providers Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, have already expressed concern about the changes Home Affairs says are needed to fight child pornography.

But media freedom commentators like Misa`s press freedom spokesman Raymond Louw and the OPA say child pornography is not a problem in the mass media, currently exempted from censorship by a law made in 1961.

"To the best of our knowledge, none of our members have ever published child pornography as defined, and none would even consider or, for that matter, hesitate to bring it to the attention of the SAPS if they note such material published elsewhere," the OPA said in a submission to Parliament`s Home Affairs Committee, which must approve the changes before they can become law.

"It is, with respect, our submission that the Amendment Bill in its current guise fails to achieve the sought-after balance between cost and benefit to society and that, while it may be well-intentioned, alternative and less intrusive means must be utilised to achieve the ends which the Bill seeks to attain," it added.

The amendments, if enacted, would require "any person who creates, produces, publishes or advertises for distribution or exhibition in the Republic any publication that contains visual presentations, descriptions or representations of... sexual conduct; propaganda for war; incitement to imminent violence; or the advocacy of hatred based on any identifiable group characteristic, shall submit in the prescribed manner such publication for examination and classification to the classification office before such publication is distributed, exhibited, offered or advertised for distribution or exhibition."

This means that any news reports about the Jacob Zuma rape trial would have to be censored, as would reports about the recent Israel-Lebanon war or North Korean nuclear tests - as well as any jokes about Van der Merwe, the Irishman and the Scotsman. Hence, it is the OPA`s position "that the approach being adopted is unjustifiably wide".