Media and the government - 24 Oct 2011

Last week, South Africa celebrated Media Freedom Day on Wednesday, 19 October 2011. Critics have asked why, the South African Presidency, during the festivities, called for fairness, objectivity and open-mindedness in the coverage of government and especially of the head of state, when a statement in support of press freedom could have been made instead.

In Malawi, following the arrest of a journalist for snapping images of the president's residence, the government has now identified two witnesses, who will testify against the journalist.

In Mauritius, authorities have imprisoned a journalist for contempt of the Supreme Court for allegedly "publicly scandalising the Supreme Court".

In Nigeria, the CEO of Airtel has called on the federal government to issue a National Policy on Communications that incorporates government's commitment since the development of broadband in the country.

Newly elected president of Zambia, Michael Sata, has issued Malawi's former president Bakili Muluzi, a television broadcasting licence after the Malawian government turned down the TV broadcasting license to run Joy-TV.

In other news, following the recent global disruption of the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), Research In Motion has offered its customers premium apps available for download at BlackBerry Application World until 31 December 2011.

Tech4Africa, the continent's only web and emerging technology conference starts this week. The two-day conference takes place 27-28 October, at The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa. Final registration is on Wednesday 26 October.

News just in: president Jacob Zuma of South Africa has appointed Dina Pule as the new minister of communications, following the cabinet reshuffling taking place today.

Here's to a great week!

Evan-Lee Courie (@evan1985)

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