Legalbrief contributors join the Press Council

A new Press Ombud and two Deputy Press Ombuds have been appointed by the Press Council of SA (PCSA), two of whom – Carmel Rickard, the new Press Ombud, and Herman Scholtz, one of two deputies – are legal journalists who contribute to the Legalbrief Today newsletter. Tyrone August is the other new Deputy Press Ombud. The three part-time appointments were made from applications received by the independent Appointments Panel of the PCSA, chaired by Justice Yvonne Mokgoro. They are part of a restructure of the Press Council’s system of mediation and arbitration of complaints aimed at providing increased capacity and efficiency, according to a Press Council statement. The appointees will work alongside PCSA Public Advocate, Fanie Groenewald. Carmel Rickard writes about the law, justice and human rights. She has an LLM in constitutional law, is a regular columnist for several publications, including Legalbrief Today. Tyrone August was editor of the Cape Times newspaper as well as editor of Leadership magazine. He was a founding member of the SA National Editors’ Forum and an executive member of the Freedom of Expression Institute and the Black Editors’ Forum. Herman Scholtz is an advocate at the Pretoria Bar. He is a former journalist with 13 years’ experience in newspapers, magazines and broadcast media. Most recently he was the national news and business editor of Rapport. He holds an honours degree in journalism and a master of laws degree in information and communication law. Judge Phillip Levinsohn, Press Council of SA chair, welcomed the new appointees and said they would undoubtedly be a credit to and greatly enhance the workings of the Press Council. Its executive director, Latiefa Mobara, said Rickard replaces Pippa Green who had resigned in December to take up a job at the University of Cape Town.