Reporting on Africa is a complex, as Africa is a continent with about 800 million people, with 54 countries of which South Africa is the southern tip.  Such diversity would seemingly warrant good background data to allow the newspaper readers to understand the context of events.  However, from this brief monitoring exercise, it seems that many of Gauteng-based media have not had the editorial commitment to cover Africa often and have ignored the complexities of various situations.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) pose a challenge to media in South Africa and around the world. This is not surprising, as the regulatory and legal framework surrounding IPR is also imperfect. It seems that without specialist legal knowledge on IPR, it is difficult to understand the various issues surrounding it. This research aimed to examine media coverage and consider what is not covered in regard to IPR.

The Media Monitoring Project (MMP) has been petitioning government to change the proposed Film and Publications Amendment Bill. While it is crucial to protect the rights of children, the MMP argues that the Bill has negative implications for media freedom in South Africa. Amongst other things, it is trying to get the country's newspaper's to self-regulate. Chakula spoke to William Bird, the Director of the MMP, and Sandra Roberts, a Project Co-ordinator at the organisation.