I wrote this article with Pamela Stein for The Sunday Independent in December 2011.

Media freedom suffered some major blows in 2011, not least by the National Assembly’s passing of the Protection of State Information Bill, known in some quarters as the “secrecy bill”. Much has been written about that draft legislation, and it suffices to say that if it is passed in its current form, it will have a chilling effect on media freedom and access to information.

But while the legislature has come under fire, in the area of defamation our courts have in general handed down important rulings in favour of freedom of the media.

Click here to read the PDF.