Annual Report of the South African Broadcasting Corporation: briefing

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Communications and Digital Technologies

30 October 2001
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COMMUNICATIONS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
30 October 2001
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION: BREIFING

Chairperson:

Mr N Kekana

Relevant Documents:

Presentation by the SABC

SUMMARY
The Annual Report was presented by various members of the SABC board. Committee Members concentrated on the following issues in particular. The SABC’s commitment to elevating the status and coverage of indigenous African language and culture and the introduction of more non-English educational programming. The need to entrench a representative news editorial staff as well as the inappropriate conduct of presenters. ligious programming on SABC. The Board members were rigorously questioned on rescheduling the length and timeslot of the Sotho news and the extent of media coverage of the State President. There is a need to curb the excessive violence and sexual themes permeating local content programming. And also to further accommodate the needs of the blind and deaf viewing community.

MINUTES
SABC Briefing
Mr Peter Matlare, CEO: SABC, presented the annual report, as well as aspects of the SABC’s progress and challenges, jointly with Dr V Maphai, Chairperson: SABC Board, Mr S Mokoetle, Chief Operating Officer, Mr Robin Nicholson, Chief Financial Officer and Mr Herman Warren, an SABC board member. (see PowerPoint presentation).

Discussion
Reintroducing African languages, News broadcasts and Educational Broadcasting
Ms I Mutsila (ANC) commended the SABC on their commitment to the "mammoth task" undertaken in the implementation of programming policies aimed at uplifting the status and coverage of minority languages and culture. Yet, in terms of point 5 on page 7 in the "Policy and Programming" column, little has been done in practice to incorporate these "previously disadvantaged" languages. The Board was requested to clarify whether a time frame has been established when these languages will be incorporated, and whether any policies have been set in place to facilitate the attainment of this objective.

Likewise, Mr Dowry and Dr Mulder calling for an increased recognition of "minority indigenous languages". They felt that the problem lay in trying to successfully accommodate all the languages equally, with the provision of simulcast seeking to alleviate at least some of the strain here. Once it is financially feasible the digital solution mentioned earlier will be introduced, but the current problem facing the SABC is that it is not yet economically viable to do so.

Mr Matlare said the equitable coverage of South African languages is concerned is a difficult one but, as noted in points 3 and 4 on page 14 of the report, a digital solution to this problem is anticipated in the foreseeable future. Yet this bold and sincere initiative would be negated should the costs involved in employing such technology be too high, or because the price allocated to the provision of the service would make it inaccessible to the general public. For this reason "subtitling" is the short-term preferred option, as it has an established track record with the SABC and it encourages literacy.

Dr P Mulder (FF) also took the opportunity to commend the SABC on the sincerity of the report. With reference to point 3 on page 14, the provision of simulcast programming would be invaluable in any future attempts to solve the problem with English as the dominant media language in this country. As regards "News and Current Affairs Programming" in point 3 on page 15, have any policies been set in place to cover more political parties in the media and not just the "major players"?

Mr J J Dowry (NNP) agreed with Dr Mulder’s contention and stated further that the prominence of the English language in the South African media is vastly disproportionate to the rest of the South African languages. Have any plans been made to rectify the long-standing problem with revenue generated by licensing and advertising? Also, has any policy been developed regarding the broadcasting of more or no religious programmes at all? Further clarity is requested regarding the precise meaning of the "restructuring of the news" in point 2 under "Policy and Programming" on page 7 of the report.

Mr A Trikamjee, SABC Board Member, responded to Mr Dowry’s concern with religious programmes, and informed the Committee that a panel has been established to deal with this issue. A new policy on this matter has been developed and subsequently approved by both the SABC board and all the South African religious councils. The SABC will not be cutting down on the amount of religious programmes currently being screened.

Ms M Smuts (DP) referred to the SABC’s commitment to educational programming on page 12 and contended that the majority of such programmes are screened in English, and that the remainder of the South African languages are consequently marginalised.

Mr Matlare thought Ms Smuts’ concern with educational programming failed to recognise the fact that radio is an important "backbone" in broadcasting educational programmes, especially in the deep rural areas.

Ms Smuts asked whether there was any truth to the rumour that an Afrikaans drama will be introduced rather than an Afrikaans soap opera?
Mr Mokoetle responded that a recent study showed that no less than one half of the local production houses were led to believe that the Afrikaans drama would now be reduced to one hour. The SABC is committed to giving greater recognition to "coloured" production houses. For this reason the current schedule is being changed so that the Afrikaans drama will be put on the back-burner for a negligible period of time, during which time 7de Laan will be extended to "soften the blow" for the entry of the new drama in November this year. Thus the Afrikaans drama is not being replaced but instead temporary changes are being made to the schedule while a new Afrikaans drama is being developed.

Mr SJ Mongwaketse (ANC) stated that the Sotho news is screened at the late hour of 21h00, which effectively deprives the older viewers as well as those still making their way home of an update of the news of the day. Instead, the Sotho news should be broadcast at 19h00 along with the rest of the news. The Sotho news differs noticeably from the English, Afrikaans and other news broadcasts both in content and duration, with the former being only 15 minutes long.

With respect to the Sotho news broadcast, Mr Mokoetle responded that this was due to the implementation of a policy directive following the 1997 Mackenzie Exercise of the SABC. The decision was taken to structure the programming schedule to effectively create "blocks" of TV airtime for specific language groups, with the idea that programmes would then be built around these news broadcasts within that language. The effect of this framework was that, effectively, five channels were being run as one, as the English, Afrikaans, Sotho, Setswana and Sepedi language programmes had to be compressed into a single programming schedule. This is a seemingly impossible task, as each language group wants its language to be featured during prime time to increase its viewership. The SABC then has to balance its vested interest in and commitment to the recognition of all indigenous languages and cultures with the fact that 80% of its revenue is generated by English programmes alone.

Regarding the concern with the time at which the Sotho news is screened, a 1998 study has shown that most viewers watch the 19h30 news bulletin on SABC 1, with the result that the 21h00 news is not watched. Consequently, the viewers prefer the bulletins to the actual full-length news broadcasts. For this reason it was decided that the content of the various news broadcasts and bulletins would not be the same, as viewers have clearly expressed reluctance to watch the same coverage in the news broadcasts between 19h00 and 21h00. Furthermore, the length of the Sotho news broadcast during the week is 30 minutes, and over the weekends it is reduced to 15 minutes so that more airtime may be allocated to entertaining programming in the Sotho language.

Dr Maphai responded generally to the concerns with the news and informed the Committee that, in deciding on the events to be covered in the news broadcasts, an evaluation of the "reference framework" in terms of the hierarchy of priorities of South African society is undertaken. This framework changes constantly, and this is made evident by the fact that in the past coverage of white South Africans dominated news broadcasts, yet after 1994 the coverage has shifted to the other extreme. The SABC is aware of this and is firmly committed to capture and relate the basic values of the democratic and diverse South African society of the present. Another formidable challenge facing the SABC involves the addressing of the "stereotyping of South African news" with regard to its sincere commitments to democracy and transformation.

The Chair found the explanation regarding the Sotho news as "unacceptable" because if the Afrikaans news is broadcast at19h00, there could be no reason why the Sotho news cannot be screened then as well. Indeed, the SABC is a public service and the fact of the matter is that the 21h00 broadcast is simply too late, and despite any explanations offered by the SABC the bottom line is that a whole range of indigenous languages are effectively being excluded. This cannot be tolerated as it might create the impression that certain sectors of the community are being brushed aside, especially as far as the news is concerned.

Mr E S Magashule (ANC) contended that the explanation for the disproportionate language coverage offered earlier by Mr Mokoetle cannot be accepted, for the Constitution itself expressly requires the equal treatment of South African languages. Thus the SABC cannot divest itself of this statutory obligation merely on the grounds of a commercial justification. As regards the contention dealing with the President, the fact of the matter is that he is receiving far too little coverage. He should be receiving more coverage especially at present, as he is only in Parliament once a year. In fact, the opposition is afforded more media exposure on the 20h00 news than the President himself. Indeed, the President is not only the representative of a particular political party, he represents that interests of our country as a whole, and all other countries provide more presidential coverage than the SABC. Furthermore, the news presenters are not representative at all, as they are "purely white".

Presenters, Presidential Coverage
Ms M N Magazi (ANC) questioned the criteria employed by the SABC in appointing its presenters. In and around 1998 the SABC had mature and composed presenters, but since the introduction of the "new bunch" the presenters on the neighbouring channels are of a much higher calibre. The current presenters should be taught to speak and conduct themselves properly as it is an important tool to be used to educate people and "change their mindset".

Mr A M Maziya (ANC) supported the concerns with the SABC presenters, and branded them "incompetent".

Ms S C Vos (IFP) referred to point 7 on page 20 of the report and suggested that the stated commitment to "bi-media" was not being followed through by the SABC. In fact, despite pressure from government to restructure its editorial staff to make it more representative, the senior members of this staff have remained.

Mr Matlare addressed this issue of restructuring news editorial staff, and informed the Committee that the SABC is currently "unpicking" the bi-media to ensure credibility of all current and future appointments. In fact, a new dispensation is being entrenched which even the current employees have to be re-interviewed to ensure transparency and accountability and to maximise efficiency and productivity.

Mr Mongwaketse (ANC) said that in years gone by the then Head of State would be frequently be featured in the news broadcasts, whereas today our State President is not given the same media coverage.

Dr Maphai said that with regards to the concern with preferential coverage of certain political parties, the SABC will not tolerate any exertion of pressure from any political party or Member of Parliament in this regard. The integrity of the product delivered to the viewing public is always the primary concern.

Mr Mathata Tsedu, Deputy Chief Executive: SABC News, pointed out that the Kenya broadcasting network provides daily reports on the everyday, routine activities of their President. Surely the honourable Member was not calling for this extreme approach? The approach followed by the SABC entails an evaluation of the significance or relevance of the specific activity performed by the President on the particular day, which essentially entails a value-judgement. If the activity meets these requirements the story would definitely be aired.

Morality, Violence on broadcasts
Ms Xingwane reiterated the concern with the disproportionate media coverage afforded to the different political parties, and contended that the Democratic Party and Democratic Alliance receive by far the most exposure. Are there measures in place to protect the SABC journalists when interviewing a politician, should the latter be, for example, uncooperative?

She continued: the one advantage gained from the late 21h00 screening of the Sotho news is that the broadcast contains all the recent developments that the earlier news broadcasts missed. The content of programming has to be scrutinised more carefully, and its effect on the youth and public at large has to be seriously reconsidered. For example, foreign programmes like ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ send a bad message to viewers in terms of the type of values the SABC espouses, such as the "incestuous" undercurrents in one character’s love affair and/or marriage to both sons and their father. Furthermore, local programmes like Yizo Yizo also contribute to this erosion of the morality of society, as one episode in particular received several complaints regarding its bordering pornographic content. Instead, these should be replaced with programmes that instil the African Renaissance, so that African values may be reinforced and promoted.

Ms Xingwane called for similar SABC programmes to be replaced by ones that would unite Africa.

Mr Matlare assured the Committee that this aspect is constantly under review to keep it in line with SABC values. Ms Xingwane fails to realise that the two Yizo Yizo episodes she refers to dealt with a specific issue, and that the rest of the series has not attracted the same degree of publicity. Thus the whole series has to be considered in its entirety, and it has received the accolades referred to on page 12 of the report because of the accurate depiction of real life in South Africa.

Ms N S Mtsweni (ANC) suggested that a large part of the viewing audience is under the age of 16. Has any research been conducted by the SABC into the possible effect that the gratuitous violence screened in the news broadcasts has on this section of the viewership (especially the images of the corpses following the attacks in Afghanistan)?

Mr M Tsedu responded that the SABC would never broadcast footage of corpses in a way that would show disrespect, but this does not mean that footage of corpses would never be aired. In fact, as far as the Afghanistan situation is concerned, the reason the corpses were shown was because the United States categorically denied the loss of Afghanistan civilian lives and the footage showed exactly the opposite. Consequently, the reason such footage is not shown when reporting a horrendous motor vehicle accident is that South African viewers are all too familiar with such images, and the screening of such footage is not needed to legitimise or substantiate the story. In other words, such footage would have to be shown when it is vital to the story and the public interest.

The Chair assured members of the SABC board that this Committee is not encouraging censorship of the news broadcasts and other programmes, but merely wishes to increase sensitivity regarding, not only violence, but also cultural issues. This is an important concern that needs to be borne in mind.

The Chair contended that, with regard to the news broadcast at 18h00, the SABC had to be sensitive to the fact that children will be watching the broadcast while their parents are still commuting from work. For this reason there is a need for "TV news for kids", with the "blood and gore" being postponed to later at night when the parents would be able to supervise their children’s viewing.

Interests of the hearing impaired, Representivity
Ms W S Newhoudt-Druchen (ANC) contended that the news broadcasts catering for the needs of the hearing-impaired have been reduced. The 15-minute news broadcast screened at 13h00 accommodates the hearing-impaired, but not the 16h00 news. Has any research been conducted by the SABC regarding the employment of more sign-language interpreters in the news broadcasts? Furthermore, the news broadcasts do not accommodate the interests of the blind.

Mr Matlare replied that the SABC has collaborated with Deaf South Africa (Deaf SA) on a report that seeks to sensitise the SABC and increase awareness and understanding of the interests and needs of deaf viewers, so that a quality and non-discriminatory programming variety could be provided. This is why the decision was made to stick with simulcast to accommodate these viewers, as well as the introduction of sign language interpreters. Programming that caters for the needs of blind viewers are constantly being evaluated under the close supervision of Board Member, Dr Rowland, who himself is blind. In this regard radio plays an important role, which is why the SABC is currently engaged in efforts to improve the quality of the audio tracks on TV, as well as looking to the introduction of multiple audio tracks, as noted in point 4 on page 14 of the report.

Ms Newhoudt-Druchen then contended, in terms of local content and sign language, that the introduction of the British programme currently being screened by the SABC focuses exclusively on white deaf people, which remains inaccessible to the majority of South African deaf people. Furthermore, only 2,29% of all SABC staff are disabled, and there are no disabled presenters currently employed by the SABC.

The response was that a study conducted by an independent third party showed that the British programme was met with a mixed reaction from deaf viewers. For this reason the matter will be reconsidered in an attempt to resolve these tensions.

Ms Xingwane (ANC) stated that, as far as the SABC’s commitment to representative restructuring is concerned, the absence of women from the Board is glaringly conspicuous. What steps, if any are being taken to curb the excessive violence and barbaric language used in television programmes?

Mr Mokoetle responded that the matter of general representivity is an important objective of the SABC, and for this reason senior women who may competently occupy the top structure position are successfully appointed. Furthermore, such appointments have also been made at middle-management level in accordance with the Employment Equity- and Skills Development plans that were both submitted to the Department of Labour.

"SABC Budget", "Programming Policy"
On the financial aspect Ms Smuts inquired as to the regulation of the Sentech (Pty) Ltd (Sentech) licence. On the legal front, was the Board confident that the split into public and commercial departments as imposed by the Independent Broadcast Act would be successful? If not, now was the time to alert the Portfolio Committee so that any substantive alterations to the law may be done as soon as possible.

Mr Matlare explained that finances are being channelled differently, because the longstanding reliance on Reuters is not what the SABC is about. Therefore other sources are being considered from which the SABC would receive footage and information which it would then, in turn, package and broadcast as its own.

Ms Smuts asked whether it would not be more cost effective to acquire the broadcast directly from CNN because South Africa already has a satellite network in place, rather than establish an SABC office in Washington DC itself?

Mr Tsedu replied that this was not a viable option as it would amount to an imposition of a solely American view of events on the South African viewing public, which is not the intention of the SABC. Furthermore, an agreement has recently been concluded with the United Nations that allows the SABC to establish an office in Geneva.

The Chair then focussed on the budget allocated to the SABC, and inquired whether everything involved in the restructuring process has been budgeted for. The issue of the introduction of multimedia services has been debated ad nauseum by this committee during the deliberations on the Telecommunications Amendment Bill. The primary concern is that providers of a telecommunication service are gradually providing services which have traditionally been defined under broadcasting, with the result that the (once apparent) distinction between the two is now being fudged. The implications of the introduction of this multimedia environment were considered, such as the effect of the new channels of advertising (such as the Internet) on competition within the telecommunication market and the controversial role of Sentech in this regard.

Mr Matlare responded to the Chair’s concern on the budgetary constraints, saying that all this has been thoroughly researched and all necessary costs to be incurred have been accounted for. The expenditure is also being marginally reduced to ensure certain "short-term wins" which are aimed at securing financial resources to be used in completing the transition.
As far as the issue of the Sentech loan raised by Ms Smuts is concerned, pages 27 to 29 of the report clearly show that the Department of Communications, Sentech and the SABC "took a hit" and incurred an "expenditure write off", or a loss. Consequently, the SABC needs to reinvest its finances into national and international programming to maintain a balance and complete the transition successfully.

The multimedia issue raised by the Chair is a definite competitive threat, but the bottom line is that the SABC has to deliver quality programming content to the viewer, be the medium radio, television or via cellular telephone. Of course, the costs involved are important, but the SABC has to be "cautious but not shy" to adapt to an ever-changing market that becomes increasingly reliant on breakthroughs in technology to stave of competition and ensure survival.

Ms Mtsweni referred to "Programming Policy" on pages 20 and 21of the report and inquired whether journalists are familiar with foreign matters and, if so, how the SABC plans to integrate this into the local content.

As far as "special events news" is concerned, no attempt is made by the SABC to acquire the opinions of the various political commentators and academics in the country, or even the various institutions for that matter. These would be able to provide the SABC and the public with an informed and accurate account of the relevant events, which is a quality that current reporters are desperately lacking.

As far as Ms Mtsweni’s concern with the degree to which the SABC journalists are familiar with foreign policy is concerned, Mr Matlare explained that they conduct research on the given topic and have access to "top flight resources". Furthermore, academic institutions are asked to provide substance to the research, because the SABC has to ensure that the viewing audience receives accurate and balanced news that it objective and captivating.

Mr Maziya inquired whether any policy directives have been set in place to regulate international news coverage because E-TV has a policy whereby a specific timeslot is allocated to local coverage, whereas the SABC has only recently introduced Morning Live to deal with these issues. Furthermore, he thought that SABC 3 fails to relate to Africa at all, as the sole broadcast language is English and it only screens CNN, which has little or no African news coverage at all.

The Chair concluded the session by welcoming further communication on the highlighted issues.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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