The SABC has embarked on a charm offensive, instructing, some say, its current affairs and news programmes on story angles and guests.
Elements of its strategy document, Inside the SABC: Empowering Citizens with Knowledge about their SABC, have been implemented already. They include a Special Assignment programme on print media in South Africa and a debate on journalism at the SABC on the programme, Interface.
The roll-out will showcase the work of the corporation in the past four years. Current affairs programmes like Fokus and Asikhuleme will be used to introduce the corporation’s new board to the public and debate definitions of national and public interest.
The move comes after a confidential market research survey, leaked to the Mail & Guardian in September, found that viewers think the corporation treats government officials lightly and fails to ask hard questions about wrongdoing.
Critics such as Christine Qunta, who is tipped to become the chair of the SABC’s next board, have accused the print media of using a racist agenda to target the broadcaster.
In line with the new strategy Special Assignment will do ‘a documentary focusing on the state of the print media in South Africaâ€. This will focus on the SABC’s interaction with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef). The show is scheduled to be aired in November.
Criticism of the strategy is mounting already. Some producers feel it is wrong for an actuality programme to become a mouthpiece for the board. One producer said: ‘If people know what a good job you’re doing, why do you need a campaign to announce it?â€
Another said: ‘We did not think that we should be used as a platform for the board to speak about itself, but we were not stopped from choosing guests who had a different perspective or who were critical of the SABC.â€
But other producers felt it was not a problem to be commissioned to do stories. They said there was nothing sinister about the new strategy. ‘The public needs to be informed about what the SABC is and what it is not,†said one producer, adding that if the personalities behind the corporation were profiled, misconceptions would be corrected.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the board had partially approved the strategy. — Additional reporting by Jocelyn Newmarch and Kwanele Sosibo