This chapter argues that the media is a legitimate adversary – rather than an enemy of the people – in a fluid, changing and unrealised imperfect democracy. The ‘free’ press (and ‘free’ is used here in the sense of free from political interference, control and state intervention, not from economic, cultural or social interference) poses something of a challenge to the ruling alliance's hegemonic discourse, with its desire to limit the polymorphic voices of a diverse media.

A dissonance has crept in between the Constitution's ascription to independence of the media on the one hand and the government and state's actions on the other, creating tension in the relationship between the media and the ANC. One of the ANC's main problems with the media is what it conceives as inadequate and negative representation of its views as the ruling party. For example, at the launch of the ANC's online publication ANC Today in 2001, the ‘Letter from the President’ noted:

One of the issues raised throughout this book is the compulsion of these discursive interventions, which are in many respects inappropriate to a constitutional democracy. While tension between the ruling party and the media is not a recent development, it became increasingly pronounced during the first decade of the new millennium and at the ANC National Policy Conference in Polokwane in December 2007 when a media appeals tribunal to regulate the media was proposed. This occurred against the backdrop of the ANC wanting a media which would act in the ‘national interest’, one which would reconcile conflicting interests towards national consensus. In July 2010 it was announced that the Gupta Group, which was closely linked to President Zuma, would fund a daily national newspaper, The New Age, which was due to launch in mid-September 2010 (Business Day: 6 July 2010).