Media Freedom

Last week, the satirical magazine in Paris, Charlie Hebdo, was attacked by gunmen. Seventeen people were killed in attacks on a satirical magazine, police officers and a kosher supermarket. - eight of them were journalists. The South African National Editors' Forum, SANEF, has condemned in the strongest terms the murder of staff members of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. SANEF says the attack creates an unnecessary tension between religious freedom and freedom of speech. Meanwhile the Muslim Judicial Council says Freedom of speech is to be respected, but does have limits when it borders on what could be perceived as hate speech. South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro says it's the worst attack on journalism, satirists, the press, and all free-thinkers in society that we have seen in recent times. To help us debate the events that happened, we have Zakir Mayet, the Media Review Network South Africa chairman, and Sue Valentine, the Africa Programme Director for the Committee to Protect Journalists: