THE freedom of the media in South Africa was undermined by various commercial tendencies that drove it and not the government, ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Lindiwe Zulu said on Thursday.

Ms Zulu was addressing the print and digital media transformation task team hearings in Johannesburg on behalf of the ruling party.

She bemoaned what she called the sluggish transformation in the media, particularly the print subsector. The ANC has in recent months been vocal about what it perceives to be the medias abuse of power and has controversially called for a media tribunal.

Ms Zulu said sloppy and sensationalist journalism led to headlines such as "Nkandlagate" and "controversial minister" and that these were spoken and written without critical thought on the matters.

She said the "anticompetitive" nature of South Africas media coupled with lack of ownership transformation led to less diverse voices.

"There are increasing incidents where the supposedly sacred separation between management and the newsroom is breached; where commercial considerations influence editorials," she said.

"Media is a major arena in the battle of ideas (and) the scope and space of the media must be open to all in society.

"Media should contribute (to) transformation in our country. We are challenging the notion that media is ideologically neutral and nonpartisan," she said.

The task team was established by Print and Digital Media SA in August last year after calls from civil society and Parliament for the transformation of the South African media following a parliamentary indaba in June.

Parliaments portfolio committee on communication criticised the print media sector and called for a transformation charter.

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Commerce ‘undermines freedom of SA media’