Media Freedom News South Africa

NWU closes campus newspaper... Is it censorship?

NEWSWATCH: Mail & Guardian reports that journalism lecturers at the North-West University's (NWU) Potchefstroom campus have been angered by the university management's decision to halt the publication of a campus newspaper.
NWU closes campus newspaper... Is it censorship?

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  • Mail & Guardian: NWU-Pukke paper closure: Cash constraints or censorship? OK, so the newspaper is reported to be in debt - though the amounts each side quotes differ somewhat... According to the Mail & Guardian report, the university says the paper owes R80,000. The editor reckons it owes R7,000. A slight difference, you'd agree.

    But in any event, the editor wants to publish an electronic issue, which as we know costs virtually nothing.

    However, the spokesperson of the Potchefstroom campus is reported by Mail & Guardian to have said "the paper cannot publish online because its website version is only supplementary to the hard copy. 'If the paper is subtracted, the other should be subtracted as well. These two go hand-in-hand with each other.'"

    A quick question... how many print publications world wide have gone the electronic route and terminated their print editions?

    Given the "reason" for the refusal to publish an electronic edition, it is perhaps no wonder that there are suspicions in some quarters that the university management's actions amount to censorship.

    Your views?
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