As South Africa goes to the polls next week Wednesday, May 8, Amnesty International is urging authorities to protect journalists so that they can do their work unhindered.
“Journalists are defenders of the right to freedom of expression, and if they cannot freely do their work, the very essence of our society is attacked,” said Shenilla Mohamed, executive director of Amnesty International SA, whose comments on Friday coincided with World Press Freedom Day. “The digital frontier has added another dimension with Amnesty International South Africa observing a worrying trend of abusive comments, threats and harassment on social media in the run-up to the election.”
Why journalists? Ordinary citizens have no freedom of expression, freedom of association, why should they? They don't report about that.