The New Age opts out of ombudsman system

For more:

• Mail & Guardian: The New Age pulls out of ombudsman system... A complaint by the DA over Faith Muthambi's response to the official opposition's condemnation over government adspend in The New Age compared against adspend in newspapers with far higher readership and circulation figures, was closely followed by The New Age opting out of the ombudsman system, reports Mail & Guardian.

  The report quotes Print and Digital Media South Africa (PDMSA) director Joe Thloloe as saying: "The New Age was one of the publications that have been using our system without being members of Print and Digital Media South Africa (PDMSA), so they are not members [of the council] and therefore are not automatically members of PDMSA.

  "What happened in their case is our rules say if we get a complaint against a publication that is not a member of any of our processes, then we should write to the editor of that publication and ask if they want the complaint handled by the Press Council."

  Thloloe is reported by Mail & Guardian to have said that when the complaint by the DA was received, "The New Age was quite reluctant to respond to the complaint" and when the council contacted the newspaper, it was sent a note that The New Age was pulling out of the system.

  In its response to the newspaper's withdrawal from the ombudsman system, the DA says the action meant it is no longer possible to hold the newspaper accountable for fairness and accuracy.