SABC policy consultation

J3: 2003

Coming up

1. Review2. Background, Bill, Policy:

consultation process.3. Process and place of exercise4. Implementation5. Key issues6. Conclusion

1. REVIEW OF ISSUES

• Who, what, where, when, etc.?• What paradigm specs do you use?• Role of state• Scope of policy • Philosophies• Implementation• Steyn’s issues: liberalistn, pbs, etc.

Review cntd.• Policy ethos: content & structure• Interventionist vs liberal.• Systems: Authoritarian,

Libertarian, Regulatory, Free Market+State.

• Singling out broadcasting• Convergence.

2. BACKGROUND

2002 Broadcast Amendment Bill• “Board … ensure reporting …

which advances the national & public interest of the Republic”

• Board should prepare policies for approval.

Bdcst Amend Bill cntd:

• SABC needs jist code of conduct• Dropped clause in old Act which

had guaranteed SABC free expression, and journalistic, creative and programming independence.

Bdcst Amend Bill cntd:

•Minister should split Board and prescribe functions through Articles of Assoc of the new corporatised body.

•There should be 2 state TV channels in African languages.

Govt comments:• “Journos need to account”.• “Cannot be allowed to report in a

manner that can damage economy or trigger rand collapse”.

• “Content should be more local”• “Our leaders, not foreign rulers,

should be shown”. (Ivy)

Assessment:

•Govt control agenda.•Govt vote of no-confidence in

SABC language delivery.•Undermines public

broadcasting, accountable to public, not the govt.

Outcry:• Opposition, Civil Society • Media (Sanef, FXI), Misa, SABC,• Icasa – only needs to consider

Minister’s policy, not accept. – No directive from govt that may

interfere with independence, power, function, and licensing autonomy.

– Therefore: unconstitutionality on Minister approval of SABC policy and new TV stations.

Changes:

• Broadcast to serve both national and public interest.

• New TV stations to be based at SABC and be public-funded.

• Icasa to be asked to licence.• One SABC board, with subcomms,

roles to be decided by board itself.

Response:

• “We tried for 2 years to engage SABC on role and obligs” (Ivy)

• “What seemed extreme was intended to focus attn on accountability.”

• “No regulator can operate without direction”

Changes:

• SABC fxi & independence clause reinstated “but this right is correctly placed in the context of, and is to be balanced with other rights of all citizens” (Ivy)

Changes:• Board must prepare policies,• Should accord with Icasa’s code of

conduct, licence conditions, Broadcasting Act objectives.

• Icasa must approve,• Public participation must be enabled.• Also: “… Board must … institute

regular & effective means to solicit public opinion … and give due consideration to it” (Ivy)

ANC policy change:

• 51st congress - Dec 02.• Pro state funds for public &

community broadcasting.• Also pro cross-subsidy• Parli TV, Africa link-ups• Gender, culture, kids progrs.• Captions for deaf.

Compromise?

• Minister – policy – Icasa – SABC• Minister makes policy directives to Icasa,

BUT:– must be transparent– In consultation with Icasa and Parliament– Be general– On certain topics

• Icasa implements broad policy, full authority over licences – tells SABC what to do.

3. PROCESS• Consultation commences • Unfortunate: no indication to public

that consultation was not a foregone matter.

• Question: “Trust that SABC consulting because it truly believes the people have an NB role to play, and not merely to comply with the law” Ngoako Ramatlhodi

Place of exercise

• Draft correctly lays out parameters (Icasa, Legislation, BCCSA, etc.).

• But within these limits, enormous scope for interpretation and elaboration

• Public input can make a meaningful impact.

Consultation principle

• South Africans = co-authors of history in the making

• Legacy of struggle in SA• Commendable for publishing

the Draft in main SA languages.

Possible benefits

• tap into knowledge capital • enhances the final product • ensures that the policies are

living objects • public has a sense of ongoing

ownership.• credibility and legitimacy

Purpose of policies• To give guidance to SABC

employees• To clarify what the public is

entitled to expect from the broadcaster.

• Be communicative & transparent• Responsive and adaptive• Clarify accountability

Basic Assumptions• Draft links SABC to Constitution

(ANC)–But omits reference to right to FXI

– Thus misses that right to send and receive info is fundamental to citizenship.

–Ignores inequalities of expression in language, and access.

Basic Assumptions• Genesis of initiative assists in

analysing why they are shaped as they are, what might be informing them, and what their impact might be. (FXI)

• SABC = Commercial broadcaster.

• Macro economic climate.

• PBS starved like other delivery areas.

4. IMPLEMENTATION

Appropriate training strategies: • Staff knowledge and

understanding• Skills to implement the guidelines.Monitoring mechanism: • How know if actioned?• How know degree of success?• Who will do it, when?

Indicators• Indicators needed to audit

whether all of the proposed policies are having effects.

• Definitions of National Interest, etc. hard.

• An agency (possibly even independent of the Board) should be charged with making an annual or bi-annual assessment about conformity and violation.

Time frames

• Language policy lacks detail (ANC)– Needs targets– Three year operational plan

• Detail on practical measures to meet needs of deaf and blind (ANC)

Economics

• Cost of policy on language programming and local content.

• Danger of noble policy goals, undermined by economic model

• Policy must relate to achievable and deliverable behaviours and outcomes.

• Shortfall can undermine credibility • Editorial policies should not be pure wish-

list or unachievable goal.

Alternative economics

• Imperative of redress should inform resource allocation, not vice versa.

• Eg. SABC should ID a need, eg. Tsonga language, and seek funds for it.

• Without plans, hard to convince govt to invest.

Permanent policy process

• Proposal suggest review every 3-5 years. More often?

• As a policy principle, should SABC carry regular content that deals with performance in terms of the policies?

• “Programming about programming” has educative value media literacy.

Who

• Draft Policies suggest CEO should be Editor in Chief, and MD of News be part of the line of accountability.

• “Upward referral” for “extraordinary events”

– “Mechanism for consultation”– ALSO: notify top managers of

controversy or impact on SABC

Editorial• Account for your decision, if you do

not practise “Editorial referral” to heads of news on these issues:

– Broadcasting secret information – Interviews with criminals– Payment for Info– Reqs for untransmitted content– Commissioning opinion polls

Mandatory referral

• “any matter … major financial, image or public response implications …”

• Must be referred to and approved by Group Exec.

• CEO, CFO, COO• Wording lifted from Australian BC.

– Adopt .. Or adapt?

Public responses• Opposed to some aspects – esp.

upward referral and CEO as editor.– Sanef, Media, SACP, Media Review

Network, Misa.– “invisible censor” will decide what is

“controversy” and extraordinary”.– SABC shd have edit indep from Board

• Support from ANC politicians and at regional meetings:

– Clear and visible lines of accountability.

Upward referral• Elitist system (FXI)• Involve working journalistis• Shorten chain of command.

Issues

• Type of issues could stifle content, paralyse initiative, delay broadcast.

• Should authority lie with CEO and Group Exec, or with Heads of News?

• Conflict of interest?• Centralisation of accountability –

pros and cons.• How does Board hold accountable?

5. KEY ISSUES

• PBS and CPBS• Advertising• Platforms• News• Programming• Holism

Contextualisation and character of the SABC:

• Complementarity, and competitiveness, of the public broadcaster to other broadcast sectors?.

• Need an explicit and deeper consideration of the PBS & PCBS distinction,

What is public service?

• Inform policies by spelling out what the SABC understands as its public service commitment.

• Eg, yes to diverse languages of the country,

• but what about minority interests and tastes (such as, for instance, ballroom dancers, book lovers or traditional drummers)?

• And missing issues: poverty index.

Africa public service

• Identify PBS role in African renaissance and integration.

• Follow on: policy to avoid or combat xenophobic and anti-Africa meanings.

• Would give guidance to coverage that gratuitously mentions nationality and with negative connotations attached such as in reference to Nigerians).

Genre distinctiveness

• Policy should say what makes public service programming distinct from the rest of the menu.

• Personality-based programming, for example, is more typical of primarily commercial broadcasting,

• But increasing examples of this genre in SABC’s public service channels.

Political role• Discuss democracy and development. • Example, policy should refer to –

– playing a watchdog role, – an educational role,– an empowering role,– a cultural role, – a mobilising role.

• Could lead to policies like supporting investigative journalism, or promoting cultural activities (eg. authors reading their books over the radio waves).

Advertising

• What is lacking in the current document is mention of how it might relate to advertising content.

• What policy guidelines relate to purely commercial (including informercials).

• How should this be assessed in relation to editorial content.

wider broadcast-scape

• Need policy about collaboration and development.

• Natural partnership with community broadcasters is not mentioned in the current document.

• Could lead to mutually beneficial relationships - including sourcing coverage from remote areas.

wider broadcast-scape

• Partnership with platform providers could be policy-guided (eg Multichoice, etc.)

• Partnerships with tertiary institutions and even commercial broadcasters could be a policy principle.

Big-City-centric

• Policy needed to cover wider South Africa beyond the three major cities.

• As PBS, SABC should allocate resources to this costly endeavour.

• Because profit not an end in itself, but a means to public service.

Different platforms

• More attention on policy re: different media platforms.

• Different considerations in television and radio – merits a special section.

• Need attention to internet- and cellphone- delivered content.

• Internet in particular raises special policy issues.

News and current affairs• News and current affairs policies need

special singling out • This is arguably the heart of

Information programming, • In turn, this is an absolutely central

function of public service broadcasting.• Iin the total mix, paramount

importance of these policies needs to be contextualised.

Programming policy

• Criteria for scheduling should be elaborated and made transparent.

• So that commercial needs to chase audiences (on both PCBS and PBS outlets) should be weighted against educational & local content imperatives.

• These imperatives hollow if respective programming is relegated to deadtime.

Holistic

• Despite distinctions, one SABC.• Eg. common policy needed on

election coverage that cuts across news, current affairs and talk and other programming.

• Recent “gagging issue”: – Result: Others must consult news.

6. CONCLUSION

• Reviewed policy theory• Background to process• Process• Implementation• Key issues• Lara Kantor