The establishment of a media tribunal in South Africa should not be viewed as interference with press freedom, the ANC said at the weekend.

Spokes man Jessie Duarte said the ANC was only making a proposal and that it was open to public debate.

She said that whenever the print media had misquoted someone or made a factual mistake, they would “bury” the apology in the inside pages.

Duarte, who commented on World Press Freedom Day on Saturday, said this was totally “unacceptable”.

She said the ANC would continue to advance press freedom as long as the constitutional rights of all South Africans were respected.

The South African National Editors’ Forum on Friday said self-regulation was the best mechanism to ensure a free and open press .

Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission chairman Jody Kollapen said the media should not focus only on media restrictions but also on their “self-imposed” restrictions. – Sapa