Statement of R2K & SOS: UNBAN THE BOO!: OUTRAGE AT THE SABC’S CENSORSHIP OF JOURNALISTS REPORTING ON ZUMA
The Right2Know Campaign and SOS Coalition have been alerted to renewed political interference at the SABC. According the Broadcast, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) its members employed by the SABC have been instructed not to broadcast any coverage of calls for President Jacob Zuma’s resignation nor any other negative reporting of President Zuma. We note with disgust that this is simply the latest case of politically motivated interference in editorial independence at the public broadcaster which makes a mockery of the principle of freedom of expression in the media and amongst citizens generally.
We were informed that SABC journalists returning from the NUMSA conference, where calls for President Zuma’s resignation had been issued by the union’s leadership, received instruction from one of their managers that they should not broadcast footage of such calls nor any other footage which may portray President Zuma in a negative light. These journalists were made to believe that this order was issued directly from ‘the top’ and allegedly from Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Concerned at this interference in their ability to operate with independence, these journalists thereafter contacted their union, BEMAWU, which instructed them to broadcast the footage regardless. We fully support this decision by BEMAWU and the journalists, who acted against blatant political interference in the process of unbiased and factual news reporting.
Sadly, it now appears that our public broadcaster is again reverting to the role of a national political propaganda machine, at the service of the President, the ANC and certain individual’s political interests. As we move into an election year it is vitally important to the health of our democracy that citizens are kept well informed via the public broadcaster, with news reporting that is unbiased, comment that is critical, and views that stem from a diversity of opinions. If the SABC, however, reverts to coverage of the President and the ANC that is solely “positive” this seriously skews the views to which South African citizens have access, and undermines the public’s right to know.
Earlier this year the Right2Know Campaign was compelled to protest the SABC’s banning of the Big Debate Show which smacked of political censorship and an abuse of the public broadcaster to protect a collection of individual’s political interests. It was evident that the criticism leveled at government ministers and other officials on the show motivated that decision by the SABC.
The SABC is being dragged back to the days when it was a state broadcaster always putting the interests of those in government ahead of the public’s right to know. Evidence emerges from the public broadcaster that the editorial independence of the newsroom is being progressively eroded with far too much frequency. A case in point is the SABC’s acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s recent call for the production of 70% ‘good news’. Another case in point is the SABC’s non-coverage of the crowd’s booing of President Zuma, at the memorial service of the late former President Nelson Mandela – we demand that the non-coverage of this incident by the SABC be investigated immediately.
We do not want skewed and biased sunshine journalism from our public broadcaster – we want real news!
Honest, critical and balanced news that is reflective of what is happening in our country is central to the role of public broadcasting in society and one of the SABC’s core duties. The SABC’s abject failure at living up to this is not only an affront to the basic tenets of public broadcasting and a free media, but an abrogation of our public broadcaster’s duty to all of the people of South Africa.
We demand a free SABC now, and an integral part of this is a news team that is actively encouraged to report on what is happening in all issues of national interest across all sectors of our country without fear or favour.
Within the existing framework, we call on the GCEO in her role as editor-in-chief of the SABC, Lulama Mokhobo, to immediately clarify to all journalists that no matter what they instruction they have received to the contrary, to adhere to the SABC’s editorial policies and report on all issues, including those that may impact unfavourably to the president and the ruling party truthfully, accurately, objectively and without allowing their professional judgment to be influenced by pressures from political, commercial or other sectional interests.
The South African public is fed a diet of cheap and poor quality foreign programming by the SABC, with an unacceptably high rate of repeat broadcasts and a continued failure to commission locally produced programming.
We therefore reiterate our call for a SABC that is publicly funded and free of state or corporate censorship of editorial content.
