Prof. Karikakari named member of South Africa Press Freedom Commission

Accra, July 11, GNA - Professor Kwame Karikari, Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has been appointed to serve as a member of the South Africa Press Freedom Commission, an independent investigative Commission, to look at the regulation of print media in South Africa.

The nine-member Commission is to ensure that press freedom in South Africa is in support of enhancing the country's democracy which focuses on human dignity, equality and freedom.

According to a statement issued by MFWA in Accra on Monday, the Commission had been tasked to independently look at the self-regulation of print media in South Africa and present recommendations that would be improved upon by the end of March 2012.

It said members had also been charged to review best practices in media regulation, both locally and globally, and develop and publish for stakeholders and the South African public, recommendations that would enhance self-regulation of the print media in South Africa.

The Commission, which was launched last week in Johannesburg, South Africa, is made up of professionals in various fields such as Justice Pius Langa, former Chief Justice of South Africa, who is Chairman of the Commission, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba from South Africa and Prof. Karikari, the only non-South African member.