More than 30 editors from major papers published protest messages mid-month calling on the government to abandon the planned legislation. But the South African media has yet to coordinate a mass protest comparable to that successfully orchestrated by Kenyan journalists in 2007 against the country's media bill. And President Jacob Zuma, infamous for issuing defamation suits against a critical South African press, may not back down easily in the face of public criticism.
It took Kenya a mass protest in August 2007 by hundreds of media practitioners to quash an amendment to the 2005 Media Act that would compel editors to reveal their sources. "I never saw so many journalists in Kenya," recalls Sammy Mbau, who helped organize the protests with a group of colleagues.
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