ABSTRACT
Abstract The hostile standoff between the print media and the African National Congress (ANC) on the issue of the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal for the print media in 2010 seemingly depended on divergent views on the role of the media in society. The article traces the origins of this discursive conflict back to one of the earliest political debates on the issue of the role of the media in a new South Africa. It occurred in July 1992 as part of a media conference hosted in Johannesburg by the Nieman Institute (see Ecquid Novi 1992, 13(1): 93-121). The focus of the research is four speeches delivered at the conference by representatives of the main political stakeholders of the day.
