Independent Media is considered a leading multi-platform production company in South Africa, offering a diverse range of newspapers, magazines, and digital media.
Their flagship newspaper, The Star, is widely regarded as one of the most influential daily newspapers in the country, providing unparalleled reporting on local, national, and international news and sports. The importance of Independent Media in South Africa cannot be overstated.
While the Press Council of South Africa (PCSA) is a voluntary organisation and can be joined and left at leisure, it is in that spirit that we left the Press Council.
Independent Media is just that, Independent! We have no legal attachment to the Press Council. The propaganda that the Press Council could expel Independent - the biggest media house in the country, is the ramblings of an outdated establishment committed to servicing the interests of right-wing media.
Our relationship with the PCSA was voluntary. It is not an employer-employee relationship. Since Independent returned to the PCSA voluntarily a few months ago and expressed concerns over its bias towards stories by black journalists, it is a fact that Independent resigned from the Press Council.
The fact is that Independent should not have gone back to the Press Council in the first place, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt and returned in good faith.
But since a snake only sheds its skin to be a bigger snake, the council became even more venomous towards us than ever before. So we’re out! And we couldn’t be happier.