Constitutional protections are not enough to defend press freedom: what our research in South Africa shows

South Africa’s constitutional protections for press freedom are among the strongest on the continent. This year, the country even led Africa in the World Press Freedom rankings. So why did half the journalists we spoke to in the country report facing legal threats because of their work?

Our latest report, Weaponising the Law: Threats to media freedom in South Africa highlights a widening gap between safeguards for media in principle and threats to their work in practice.

• Financial & commercial pressure on media outlets is tied with mis- and disinformation as the number one threat to journalism in South Africa
• 79% of survey respondents highlighted the need for stronger labour protections for journalists
• Just a third of surveyed journalists felt “somewhat confident” in the courts’ ability to protect those covering sensitive or controversial topics.

Less visible threats weakening press freedom

When we published similar research on the weaponisation of the law in Kenya earlier in the year, 42% of surveyed journalists reported having faced legal threats because of their work. We can now point to a similar pattern in South Africa.

In very different political contexts, the same tactics are being used to stifle journalists’ ability to report freely: the abuse of court processes, Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs), mis- and disinformation and the harassment of women journalists.

The South African example shows how threats to media freedom take root even in jurisdictions with strong constitutional guarantees. The threats to the media ecosystem are less visible. In South Africa, we do not see the same censorship, internet shutdowns, or the arrest of journalists as in Kenya. Instead, legal complexity, regulatory gaps, and financial pressures are slowly eroding the conditions which independent journalism needs to thrive.

The threats to media freedom may be harder to name and harder to address, but this makes them more important to bring into focus.

A pattern driving impunity globally

From the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Africa Hub in Nairobi, we see this pattern emerging across the region. Even where the foundations of democracy appear strong, there is a subtle, systemic shrinking of media freedom and civic space at play.

Why does this matter? Because we know that a decline in press freedom is directly linked to a rise in impunity – driving corruption, economic exploitation, environmental degradation, and conflict across the globe.

The Foundation’s role on the African continent is to stay close to these realities and use our legal, media and convening expertise to effectively support responses on the ground. From supporting newsrooms to build sustainable and responsible AI strategies, to providing legal resources, pro bono advice and mentoring, we work to strengthen independent journalism and civic space. Our mission is to equip those working in the media with the tools to withstand the threats to press freedom and uphold the critical role of journalism in democracy.

We hope that the evidence presented here equips lawyers, policy makers, government representatives and civil society to take coordinated action in South Africa, and across the continent.