“I was stunned that all of you weren’t outside of the SABC headquarters the next morning,” he said at the Nieman Society AGM in Johannesburg.

“Governments around the world are looking to control any story they can.”

Motsoeneng recently suggested all journalists be licensed and that government revoke these licences should they behave unprofessionally.

Gaspard quoted journalist and writer Nat Nakasa, who died in exile in New York in 1965, saying people should speak up in a “loud and thunderous voice” should anyone or any government hint at censorship.

Available: http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2014/09/30/us-ambassador-warns-against-censorship-in-south-africa