The Department of Statistics has taken a strong stance against Media Outlets in South Africa attending press conferences, applying a 6-month ban on their attendance.
Newzroom Afrika and You FM have been in breach of the embargo when they publicly announced the results of GDP Q4 (2019) on social media platforms before the embargo had been lifted.
Stats SA has reported that they have built up trust with journalists over the years and let them see sensitive data, which has now been broken forcing them to apply to ban. Breaching the trust of Stats SA is also breaching the act that is in place to prevent this, both outlets broke the Statistics Act 6 of 1999 and also UN Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics.
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