(Credit: Press Council of South Africa)

The Mail and Guardian, a weekly newspaper based in Johannesburg,  reported that South Africa’s press council has called for a new conduct code and “stricter sanctions” for “serial offenders in the print media.”

The recommendations were made in the council’s recently released report following a “year-long investigation into the newspaper industry’s self-regulatory processes.”

According to the Mail and Guardian, the investigation and report also serve as a “response” to the ruling political party’s call for a “statutory media appeals tribunal.”

See iMediaEthics’ previous reports about the calls for the tribunal and the press council’s criticism of the proposed tribunal here.