Johannesburg – South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Chief Operating Officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng on Wednesday defended the public broadcaster’s decision to end the long-running SAfm programme “The Editors” and also rebuffed suggestions that this was tantamount to “censorship”.
The SABC ended “The Editors” after 20 years. The popular Sunday morning programme involved editors from different media houses discussing current affairs and news.
The programme was removed from air in the wake of another controversial move by the SABC regarding content.
Last month the SABC banned the broadcasting of violent protests and footage showing destruction of property.
Speaking to Sakina Kamwendo on SAfm’s AMLive on Wednesday, Motsoeneng said the SABC had taken these decisions in line with its editorial policy.
“We are a public broadcaster and we have a responsibility to our nation. We are guided by the editorial policy of the SABC and ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) regulations,” Motsoeneng said.
“SABC cannot show visuals that can harm the nation and that would have huge implications on the children.”
Asked whether in the past the SABC was contravening its editorial policy by showing such visuals, Motsoeneng rebuked Kamwendo. He said she “must speak” like an employee of the SABC who had read the editorial policy of the broadcaster.
Some callers to the programme insisted the public had a right to know. They rejected any “sanitised” or “censored” version of news.
One caller said the SABC should continue being the eyes and ears of society. The caller said if the new rules were in force in 2012, South Africans would not have seen the Marikana mineworkers being shot dead by police.
Unfazed by the criticism, Mostoeneng insisted that the SABC had “consulted our own people who represent the majority of the country and they indicated that they do not wish to see violence on television”.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago also dismissed the callers’ concerns, saying they had misunderstood the reasons for changes in programming.
“We change our programming on all our 18 radio stations all the time. This programme has been there even before 1994. We came to a decision where the station decided that we needed a revamp,” Kganyago said.
The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday said the SABC’s decision to take “The Editors” off air was an act of blatant censorship by the public broadcaster in the run-up to the 3 August 2016 local government elections.
DA spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme said the SABC must not mislead the public and claim that there was public consultation on the editorial policy
“The reason was that the SABC editorial policy was passed in secret to protect the ANC (African National Congress). The SABC is getting instructions from Luthuli House,” Van Damme said.
But Kganyago dismissed the allegations. He said the SABC met all political parties before it passed the public broadcaster’s editorial policy.
But national spokesperson of the South African Communist Party Alex Masilo said his party was never consulted in reviewing the SABC’s editorial policy.
African News Agency