Welcome one and all to your favorite blogging destination, I am your humble host Kash Ncoyini bringing you the Rundown on the South Africa’s latest hot topics. Today I look at the South African Protection of State Information Act.
The Protection of State Information Bill Act has been subject to a lot of debate and criticism for what many have called a violation of the public’s right to know, however very few know what the act is and why it is being implemented.
The Protection of State Information Act is a piece of legislation which aims to regulate the protection, classification and dissemination of state information to protect the state’s best interests and we believe it will do so for the following ten reasons:
1. The Protection of State Information Act is a strong line of defense against the media publishing irrelevant and incorrect information by not allowing stories or broadcast information that is not within the state’s best interest.
2. The bill enforces the media code of ethics, which by counts of distribution of incorrect information like television shows like 3rd Degree and newspapers like the Sunday World prove regulatory bodies such as ICASA and the BCCSA are ineffective.
3. The Act will also provide citizens with verified information by their government on their behalf.
4. The Act also rejects claims that it is trying to monopolize what the state will find as sensitive information and commercial information, because those categories have been deleted from the Act.
5. The Act also reduces the chances of espionage, balance the secrecy and openness through creating a system declassification of information.
6. All countries around the world have their own means of protecting information to make sure it is not used against the state. Therefore the South African government is doing nothing out of the ordinary.
7. The issue of classified information has been addressed as a Classification Review Committee has been proposed to oversee the classification process.
8. Claims that the Act is the same policy as that of the Apartheid government are nothing more than the media and the opposition parties perpetuating propaganda for something they fear, it will bring about an end to their continued abuse of state information to terrorize members of parliament especially those from the ANC.
9. South Africa is one of Africa’s economic giants and the prospect of sabotage by not only other countries but internal organizations is great, because of this the South African government is taking steps to make sure South Africa’s place among the elite in Africa remains the same.
10. The National government is actually protecting the South African constitution by implementing the bill, because if the information that has potential to damage the state is published and broadcast to the general public it puts strain on the country’s communication channels, which The National government is actually protecting the South African constitution by implementing the bill, because if the information that has potential to damage the state is published and broadcast to the general public it puts strain on the country’s communication channels, which has proved to be very dangerous to a liberated constitution.
The Rundown: I know most of you are going, “huh?” so I will let you out of your misery this is a project I had to do for my Practice of Journalism class and although it sounds like a press release think about how it sounds like a good idea coming from a first year imagine the spin a member of parliament can put on it. This act is a danger to us all.
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