Andrew Worsdale
IN an impassioned oral presentation to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), members of the newly formed Independent Producer’s Organisation discussed the viable options for a new “free-to-air” channel.
The organisation responded to the IBA’s discussion paper on the channel, honing in on local content and independent production, programming contributions, language, employment equity and human resource development.
In his introduction, the organisation’s chair Mfundi Vundla said: “Public service broadcasting is not merely the opposite of commercial broadcasting. It is not merely a category of programmes. It is not factual programmes or educational programmes or serious programmes. It is not an insert on disabled children with the title Our Channel Cares. It is an attitude … It is the soul which belongs deep inside any broadcasting institution which prevents itself from selling itself and us all to American values for R300 a minute.”
References were made to local quotas and how some broadcasters, notably M-Net, get by with cheap local soap operas and talk shows to meet the criteria for local content. Although fundamentally agreeing with many of the IBA’s proposals, the organisation stressed the need that a new private broadcaster should not just be given a licence to print money.
Vundla reflected that the submission comes at a difficult time for the SABC as it is attempting to restructure itself amid a string of financial woes. The corporation has blamed its fiscal problems on its “mandate”, to which Vundla replied that the organisation believed “the mandate is a red herring. The SABC has financial problems not because it broadcasts in too many languages, nor because it carries too much local content.
“We reject this with contempt and an analysis of SABC’s local content will show that the top income-generating programmes and top-rated shows are all locally produced.” He went on to blame the crisis on mismanagement and lack of vision.
Members of the organisation have privately voiced distress about the future of the local industry as it is hampered by inefficient bureaucrats with creativity disappearing under a maze of administration.
Executive member of the organisation, Mark Newman, said there was “hope” for the future and the submission to the IBAwas “encouraging”.
With local programmes commissioned by the SABC at their lowest ebb in 12 years, the organisation is one of the few bodies fighting for a viable, and indeed artistic, industry.