Over 180 civil society organisations and numerous prominent individuals have endorsed a civil society statement titled 'Let the Truth Be Told! Stop the Secrecy Bill'. The statement characterizes the Protection of Information Bill as fundamentally undermining the struggle for whistleblower protection and access to information and as  reminiscent of our apartheid past. The statement calls for a redrafting of the Bill to comply with the constitutional values of access to information and freedom of expression.

The COSATU Central Executive Committee has made a bold statement calling for greater media diversity and rejecting the Protection of Infroamtion Bill in its' current form. On the proposed Media Appeal Tribunal (MAT) they say "COSATU would oppose any tribunal that could be used to intimidate the media into not exposing crime, corruption, incompetence or waste of public money. On the contrary that is what the media should be encouraged to do."

The Alternative Information Development Centre (AIDC) statement on the threats to Press Freedom notes that - as a result of ANC policy - South Africa's media is highly concentrated and services as small section of the population before highlighting the need to defend the freedom of existing media and extend press freedom to the majority of South Africans. The statement concludes with a call to forge a media democracy movement.