SABC's "happy news": DA requests SABC board intervention
The DA will today write to the Chairperson of the Interim Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Ms Ellen Tshabalala, requesting that she intervene to ensure that Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO), Hlaudi Motsoeneng, does not implement a policy that 70% of SABC bulletins are "happy news".
We will also request that she revoke the instruction of her predecessor, Dr Ben Ngubane, that gave Mr Motsoeneng the authority to oversee news coverage of the public broadcaster, and re-instate the Group Chief Operating Officer as the Editor-in-Chief.
We are prompted to do this following Mr Motsoeneng's declaration published today in the Mail & Guardian, that he plans to introduce a policy that ensures 70% of SABC's bulletins are "happy news" (see here).
This is a clear indication that he plans to be the government's praise singer in the run up to the 2014 general election.
This 'policy', should it be implemented, is in clear breach of the SABC's editorial policy, the SABC's Charter and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa's (BCCSA's) Code of Conduct for Free-to-Air Broadcasters which all, broadly speaking, require high standards of journalistic integrity, fairness and solid news values to determine - without fear or favour - what is newsworthy.