divisions’
Jubie Matlou and Sechaba ka Nkosi
The long-awaited probe into the restructuring of the SABC has raised the possibility of privatising the corporation’s news divisions.
The report by consultants Gemini, which was presented to the SABC board this week, recommends that an “ideal SABC news service would fully exploit business opportunities (that is, privatisation)”.
Cecilia Khuzwayo, acting chief executive of the SABC, confirmed the report’s recommendations but said it was premature to discuss them as the proposals still had to be debated within the corporation.
“The SABC would accept what’s good in the report and reject what it finds unacceptable. It’s inaccurate to assume at this stage that news will be privatised,” Khuzwayo said.
Professor Guy Berger of Rhodes University was not enthusiastic about the idea as it would make public service broadcasting indistinguishable from private and commercial broadcasting.
The report recommends the replacement of the news division by an agency along the lines of a wire service. The news agency would operate within the SABC. The idea is that editorial control over the content of bulletins would then reside with the individual managers of the television channels and radio stations.
The proposed arrangement is to have the news agency entering into a performance agreement, called the Service Level Agreement, in terms of which individual television channels and radio stations would select the type of news stories for their bulletins.
However, if the channel and station managers believe the quality of news provided by the agency does not meet the required standard they would have the option of outsourcing news from other providers.
This proposal runs against the grain of the current bi-media news operation in which both radio and television news is managed from a central point, in Auckland Park. If the proposal is accepted by the board, the powers of the SABC’s current news czars, such as Snuki Zikalala and Phil Molefe, would be significantly clipped.
The report also calls for the differentiation of news selection according to audience profile of the different television channels and radio stations.
Berger said the report doesn’t take into account the country’s divided history.
“If news is packaged according to a radio station’s profile it implies that the racial stereotypes of the South African broadcasting market would be entrenched. 5fm would continue to provide news that is of interest to the young, urban-based white, and Metro continue to target the young black audience,” Berger said.
There are reports within the corporation about objections to the Gemini report, something the acting chief executive confirms as a right. Gemini has proposed breaking the SABC into two sections – one a public service broadcaster and the other a public commercial broadcaster, both overseen by the SABC board. Gemini wants each division run as a separate business unit, all of which could result in a major shake-up of current management.
However, Khuzwayo said a committee has been set up to deal with different chapters and report back on the recommendations.
“We appointed four co-ordinators for each of the sections that Gemini investigated on. On May 31 we met and every co-ordinator presented its interpretation,” Khuzwayo said. “We disagreed with some of the things [recommendations] which is natural because we also hold views on the future of the corporation.”
The report indicates that the corporation’s enterprises and proposed public service arm would suffer a net loss of more than R3,5-billion over the next five years.
SABC board chair Dr Vincent Maphai said in a statement that the board, management and the unions met on Wednesday evening to discuss the Gemini report and that all parties have agreed on the restructuring process.