Johannesburg - As the SABC launched a drastic increase in its local television content on Wednesday, chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng used the opportunity to hammer media houses for alleged negative coverage of its other recent decisions.
Chief among issues for which the broadcaster has been criticised is its ban on the airing of visuals of violent protests, most recently in Tshwane.
“You who write bad things about us, I think about you all the time. I perform well when I have forces that don’t support me,” Motsoeneng said.
When a journalist queried the SABC's thin coverage of this week's protests in Tshwane, Motsoeneng said she was “spoiling the party”.
He said the briefing was to discuss its television networks and to celebrate the move to increase local content to 80 percent.
An online petition has since been launched to challenge the SABC’s decision, and by Wednesday afternoon it had garnered close to 4 400 signatures.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago singled out a journalist for allegedly reporting inaccuracies about the broadcaster and Motsoeneng, and appealed to other media to refrain from doing so.
Apart from the condemnation by mostly print media and industry experts' criticism of recent SABC changes, Motsoeneng applauded his colleagues for their efforts to introduce almost only local content to its TV networks.
About R600 million has been set aside to make this move possible from next month.
Wednesday’s announcement comes barely a month after the public broadcaster began playing 90 percent of local music across its 18 radio stations.
Motsoeneng insisted that was the right decision for the country. “We have been around the provinces and we know what people want.”
Motsoeneng and other officials said the decision was a move to expand the local entertainment industry. It was also aimed at providing a platform for local artists and producers to showcase their work.
“The impact will be huge. It will create jobs in all the provinces,” said Motsoeneng.
A new logo has been created for the SABC.
Although SABC1 remains mostly unchanged for now with minimal changes for SABC2 such as shifting time slots for news and Afrikaans soapie 7de Laan, SABC3 will see the most changes. The channel will be “local with a global outlook”, which will see no repeats during prime time.
About 10 new shows will be introduced next month on SABC3, such as Real Talk with media personality Anele Mdoda and Sober Companion with comedian Trevor Gumbi.
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The Star