Adjudications and Judgments
Key rulings by Press Ombudsman and/ or Media Councils
This section includes some of the key rulings by Press Ombudsman’s and/ or Media Councils. An examination of key rulings in Africa reflects inconsistencies on the issues dealt with among the countries in the project. In West Africa, and less democratic countries, there is a trend where mostly politicians and powerful figures in society seek arbitration from media councils on issues of unethical reporting, defamation, bias, unsubstantiated articles, malicious publications, denial of the right to reply as well as libel. On the other hand, in South Africa and more democratic countries approximating international standards, the trend shows that it is mostly marginalized groups such as immigrants, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities as well as political groupings and company Executives who seek arbitration on issues such as hate speech, fabrication of facts, distortion and skewed representation.These should help media organizations to establish what the key trends are in various judgements, and whether the media are meeting their ethical obligations or not. It should be noted that this section is a work in progress, as very few judgements were accessible.
Some of the African countries with media councils/ ombudsman that have arbitrated and adjudicated on complaints against the press include: