FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS (MAY 30 - JUNE 6)

PUBLIC BROADCASTING - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was plunged into a deeper crisis this week following the announcement of more resignations in top management, hot on the heels of the resignation last week of Television News editor-in-chief Joe Thloloe, the departure of the chief executive of television, Jill Chisolm, and the dismissal of senior television executive producer Jeremy Thorpe two weeks ago. On May 30 the head of Current Affairs Sarah Crowe and the head of Television News Ivan Fynn announced their resignations, while unconfirmed reports spread in the media of the imminent resignation of  the editor-in-chief of Radio News, Barny Mthombothi, all apparently in solidarity with Thloloe.
On June 5 Crowe announced that following discussions with SABC chief executive Zwelakhe Sisulu she had withdrawn her resignation, while Mthombothi denied that he was planning on resigning. Meanwhile, Thorpe, who was axed after criticising the corporation’s decision to terminate the services of the South African Press Association (SAPA), lodged an appeal against his dismissal on May 30. On June 3, Sisulu announced the appointment of veteran journalist Allister Sparks as editor-in-chief of the Television News and Current Affairs. Thloloe’s resignation the previous week was directly linked to Sparks’ appointment to this position, which would have resulted in Thloloe losing his editorship and being moved to the position of head of department, a move described by Thloloe as a demotion. Sparks’ appointment was criticised in some political circles, with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) describing it as "highly irregular and inept" since Sparks was a SABC board member and a print journalist with no practical or proven television experience. The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)  called on Communications Minister Jay Naidoo to intervene, saying the people of South Africa needed an explanation about what was really happening at the corporation. The PAC called for an explanation as to why Sparks’ post had not been advertised, and why Thloloe’s contract had not been finalised for certain months. Within in a day of his appointment, Sparks indicated that the SABC may reconsider the termination of its contract with SAPA. The news agency is the largest wire service in South Africa.

In other developments at the SABC, the weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper reported on May 30 that the corporation was proposing funding from the taxpayer until the turn of the century. The proposals, contained in the SABC’s projected budget, was due to be handed to Minister Naidoo within the week. The demand for funding would reportedly go towards "essential functions", which included extended public broadcasts of the elections, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, live broadcasts from Parliament and special projects, such as big national events, including Freedom Day celebrations and presidential inaugurations. The SABC sustained a R60,2-million deficit during its last financial year (the 12 months to September 1996) against a surplus of R100,7 the previous year. On May 29 the corporation announced that religious programmes on television would be cut because the SABC could not afford them. The corporation said the content of programmes currently running would be changed, shifting from focussing on one faith to many faiths during a single show. The corporation said further that it would no longer accept material for programmes - usually offered free of charge - from certain denominations, as this would exclude certain faiths that could not afford to produce their own shows. "This would be in direct conflict with the corporation’s policy of reflecting all faiths in its programming," a SABC statement said.

MEDIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which is planning on holding hearings into the role of the media during apartheid, has received two major submissions in this regard. On May 29 the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) made its submission, which focussed on the role of the SABC and the role of the print media, particularly on its reporting of the 1976 Soweto student uprising and the 1987 National Union of Mineworkers strike. In its submission the MMP exposed the role of the SABC as the "most blatant misuse by the state of a public broadcasting service". MMP chairperson, Professor John van Zyl, said in a statement that, "The SABC... acted as the official mouthpiece of the National Party (NP) from 1948 [when the NP became the ruling party] to the first democratic elections. Even as late as during the run-up to the elections [during 1993] there was resistance to voter education programmes on television by the old guard." On the print media, the MMP found the Afrikaans Press had played a key role in popularising and propagating the ideology of the apartheid state, as did selected English newspapers such as The Citizen.

On June 2 the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) made a lengthy submission to the TRC, comprising 19 separate parts totalling more than 600 pages. The FXI submission included papers on the legislation affecting the media, state actions against journalists and their newspapers, and the role and performance of the mainstream newspaper industry from 1960 to 1994. Other papers included studies on the differences between English-language daily and weekly newspapers in their reporting on certain major events in South African history between 1960 and 1993, as well as several reports specific to the experiences of editors and journalists. The FXI found that the conduct of the mainstream newspaper industry during Apartheid fell short of its role to properly inform the public and at times they colluded with the authorities by entering into agreements that resulted in self-censorship. In some of the papers of the independent researchers commissioned by the FXI it was found that the overriding interests of business and profits compromised the journalistic goals of the mainstream press. This was exacerbated by the virtual "guerilla war" which the government waged against the media through the extensive list of laws that restricted journalists and publications as well as actions taken to intimidate journalists and publishers with the aim of silencing them. However, one of the research papers found that by entering into agreements with government, ostensibly to stave off more draconian measures against the media, proprietors negotiated away important freedoms of the press while also censoring themselves. The rise in the alternative press after 1985 exposed this self-censorship when it was proved that the restrictions on press freedom were in practice less rigid than the mainstream press had come to assume. The agreements that the proprietors entered into with the authorities also resulted in editors having to surrender part of their role, that of gatekeepers of news, to the state. The Afrikaans press was found to be official organs of the ruling National Party and slavishly propounded its policies especially in regard to the implementation of apartheid. English-language newspapers were hardly innocent and their self-perception as the "opposition press" was only partially correct since they placed themselves firmly within the parameters of the white political spectrum only. The FXI’s submission, along with all other submissions on the media that the TRC will receive this month, will be used to inform the commission on whether it should hold a public hearing into the role of the media, and what the scope of such a hearing should be.

During the handing over of the FXI’s submission to the TRC, the commission revealed that the African National Congress (ANC) had not supplied it with a list journalists who had acted as spies for the apartheid-authorities, contrary to statements by the ANC that it would give this information to the TRC. The head of the TRC’s investigation unit, Dumisa Ntsebezu, said the commission would write to the ANC to request this information. In its submission, the FXI handed a list of journalist spies to the TRC, but the FXI was in doubt about is authenticity and was willing to leave it up to the TRC to further investigate this. The FXI cautioned though that such an investigation should not result in the victimization of innocent people, since some journalists named as spies were often victims of the former government’s disinformation and dirty tricks operations against the media.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION: The Business Day newspaper reported on June 5 that the MEC for Safety and Security in the Northern Province, Seth Ntai, had banned reports to the media on the situation in the town of Bushbuckridge, which had been the scene of violent protests in the past few weeks by citizens demanding to be part of neighbouring Mpumalanga province, as opposed to the Northern Province. The immediate consquence was that police refused to give further details after three trucks were torched by protestors on June 3 and 4. A spokesman for the MEC on June 6 denied that they had imposed a ban on the police giving details of incidents, and insisted that it was a misunderstanding. The spokesman said the police would provide details on daily operational matters, while the MEC would provide details on policy issues.