When 60 media lawyers and journalists met in Zanzibar in October 1995, they agreed that they needed a regular means of communication to keep them informed of important cases with implications for freedom of expression.
The occasion was a conference jointly organized by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and ARTICLE 19, the International Centre Against Censorship, to review the state of media law in Southern Africa. The outcome was this newsletter, which has been launched jointly by the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and ARTICLE 19.
The aim is for this newsletter to appear quarterly as a means of exchanging examples of "good law" from throughout the region and beyond. It will report cases which provide positive precedents for the defence of freedom of expression and the independence of the media, as well as looking at important developments in constitutional and statute law.
A number of countries in the region have recently experienced profound changes. There have been shifts from authoritarian to democratic political systems, sometimes accompanied by new constitutions which contain entrenched guarantees of human rights. In almost all countries a greater variety of independent news media has emerged.
These changes have led in turn to a growth in media legislation and jurisprudence. However, the harsh reality remains that, despite the increase in litigation relating to the media, this is too small an area of work to attract specialist practitioners anywhere other than in South Africa.
In general, the problem for media and freedom of expression lawyers in southern Africa remains that they are unable to spend sufficient time on this branch of the law to enable them to become familiar with all relevant jurisprudence both within and outside the region. The purpose of this newsletter is a simple exchange of information which will allow Southern African lawyers access to relevant case, statute and international law both from within the region and from elsewhere in the world.
The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) in Johannesburg has agreed to act as a repository for all the case materials and statutes mentioned in this newsletter. This means that a lawyer preparing media litigation can use this newsletter as a reference to relevant cases or other materials, which can then be obtained in full from CALS.
This newsletter is intended primarily for lawyers. All the sponsoring organizations have other publications which report on violations of freedom of expression and media independence for a broader audience. Nevertheless, we hope that the newsletter will also appeal to lay readers - such as journalists - interested in issues of freedom of expression.
This first issue has been produced without funding. In order to sustain this as a regular publication we will need to secure finance. But equally importantly, if this newsletter is to achieve its aim it will need the active participation of lawyers throughout southern Africa. We will need you to be the eyes and ears of the newsletter to draw our attention to relevant cases and legal developments.
This newsletter has been launched in response to an expressed need by media lawyers in the region. The editors need your suggestions and contributions to enable this publication to reflect your requirements. Please contact us to report important judgements in your country, the region or elsewhere.
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