Senior editors and journalist are to meet police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi in Pretoria on Friday to discuss the centralisation of police communication departments.
The restructuring removes area media-liaison officers within the police who previously facilitated the dissemination of information on crime. From Monday, media organisations may liaise only with provincial communication officers.
The South African National Editors’ Forum warned on Wednesday that the move would erode public confidence in the police even further.
”It is essential for public confidence and for public information that news of crime is quickly and accurately disseminated. This is as true for the reporting of acts of crime as it is for the quick and accurate reportage of effective crime prevention,” it said.
Gauteng police on Wednesday told media organisations not to make direct contact with police stations following the newly introduced police-centralisation process.
”There will be no comments to media enquiries from any member of the service in the province … Do not attempt to make direct contact at police stations because only official spokespersons at provincial head office will deal with the media,” Director Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said in a statement on Wednesday.
The centralisation process is said to be part of an ”outrageous pattern of [media] censorship” by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa).
In effect, the restructuring removes area media-liaison officers within the police who previously facilitated the speedy dissemination of information on crime.
”This latest move to limit the flow of police information to the public follows the outrageous pattern of censorship … and shows how fast the government is creating an information-starved state, which is totally opposed to the democratic principles it purports to uphold,” said deputy chairperson of the South African branch of Misa, Raymond Louw. — Sapa