Media Concerned that Freedom of the Press is at Risk

On Tuesday, the Cabinet gave its approval for the submission of legislation that seeks to amend the criminal code. This amendment would ensure that the publication of any unauthorized videos, statements, or other materials that are part of an ongoing investigation that may endanger the lives of witnesses or compromise the integrity of an investigation would be regarded as a criminal offense. This announcement drew alarm among reporters who depend on information from several sources to be able to accurately and readily keep the public informed. We sat down with Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa, who maintains that the legislation does not seek to suppress the freedom of the press, but rather protect parties involved in investigation.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“On Tuesday, cabinet met and considered the criminalization of the unauthorized publication of evidence that comes into the hand of police officers who are carrying out an investigation. I know that the media, quite justifiably so, is concerned. Because this includes evidence not only in the form of witness statements photographs, documents that investigators might have picked up at a particular crime scene but also video. Video evidence as we know, is now widely circulated not just on mainstream media, but also on social media. And moving forward we have approved in policy and in principle, this criminalization of certain documents, certain videos, certain photographs and I fully agree with you and I’m totally understanding of the concern of the media because there will have to be somewhat of a classification process that investigators will have to go through. Many times I’m sure we’re aware that videos are put out there even before it gets to the police station. And so at the point of investigating a particular case, if a matter or a video has already been circulating the investigator at some point will have to classify that particular video as being the subject of a criminal investigation. And so moving forward as we draft the legislation, we have to be extremely crafty in ensuring that we are not trampling on the rights of the media and access of the media to what is considered public video footage or public photographs, While at the same time, doing some sort of a balancing act to ensure that we are protecting  the integrity of the evidence as well as protecting the victims or the witnesses in a particular.”