FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICAN (June 27-July 4 1997)

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING: The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) is once again facing claims of irregularities in the manner of its operations, this time from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). On June 29, the corporation accused the IBA of impropriety and undue influence after it was revealed that the IBA held a meeting with top executives from the pay-television, M-NET, before the IBA’s June 26th announcement of its interim decision on the amendment to M-NET’s licence. The SABC is demanding that the IBA disclose everything that was said in the meeting. At issue is whether the meeting was held before the IBA took its decision on M-NET’s licence. If it was held before the decision had been taken, it would be in violation of IBA rules which stipulate that the authority should not fraternise with broadcasters outside of official hearings. An IBA spokesman denied that the meeting was held before a decision had been taken, adding that it was a briefing that did not involve any councillors. A spokesman for M-NET confirmed also that the meeting was held after the IBA took its decision and that the aim of the meeting was to brief M-NET on the proposed amendments to its licence.
The SABC, in the meantime, has also challenged the IBA’s right to decide on M-NET’s licence. The corporation is claiming that the decision to amend the pay-TV’s licence was made by a discredited council which had already resigned. It was referring to the crisis in May this year when five of the seven IBA councillors resigned following an Auditor-General’s report which exposed serious financial irregularities at the IBA. The five councillors, however, were required to complete a three month notice period, expected to end in August, before newly-appointed councillors could take over.

BROADCASTING: The SABC on June 28 called on the government to include in its forthcoming White Paper on broadcasting a policy regulating broadcasting in South Africa. The SABC made the call in response to the IBA’s interim decision on the amendment to pay-TV M-NET’s licence, which included a decision that M-NET retain its "open time" window. "Open time" is a daily two hour time slot during which the pay-TV is allowed to broadcast programmes unencoded. The SABC, along with potential bidders for the soon-to-be licenced private free-to-air commercial TV channel , argued strongly for the IBA to scrap M-NET’s "open time" window.

MEDIA & HUMAN RIGHTS: Times Media Ltd (TML), one of the major media owners in South Africa, on June 30 denied that newspapers might have contributed to a climate in which gross human rights violations were possible. In a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), TML, who spoke also on behalf of its predecessor, South African Associated Newspapers (SAAN), said its newspapers had acquitted themselves "honourably in the battle for freedom, justice and truth in South Africa". The TML submission was one of a number of submissions heard by the TRC since late May into the role of the media during apartheid. It was the second submission from media owners, the first one being from Independent Newspapers, formerly known as the Argus Group. In its submission, TML contended that its group’s newspapers had put a break on power, revealing to the country and the world what was really happening on a number of fronts. While admitting that it had fired more editors than any other group in the country, TML said they had always been replaced by journalists who shared the same liberal, anti-apartheid views. The group admitted that it had allowed commercial considerations "to temper honest reporting". "The money was in the hands of White advertisers and readers. Short-term survival depended on not alienating them. Management’s obligation to shareholders and staff came into conflict with some journalists perceptions of their public duty," the submission said. In an accompanying letter, Ken Owen, the former editor on the TML-owned Sunday Times newspaper, dissociated himself from the submission, saying it "doesn’t tell what happened". He said the submission was discredited because it failed to deal in detail with the axing of at least four of TML’s editors; the company’s role in the Newspaper Press Union; the Press and media councils and the defence and police liaison committees. A number of views suggest that some former editors of TML newspapers were axed for political reasons. In the FXI’s submission to the TRC it was found that newspapers’ involvement in defence and police liaison committee often led to the suppression of information or disinformation.

In another submission to the TRC on the media, a former editor of the Afrikaans-language newspaper, "Die Volksblad", Hennie van Deventer,  said he had received death threats during the apartheid years for propagating political reform. Van Deventer said he pursued reform and reconciliation in editorials, columns and speeches during his period as editor from 1980 to 1992. However, he said the reaction to his position on political matters "was anger, rejection and open enmity, especially from right-wing Afrikaners". Van Deventer’s submission was made in his personal capacity and was not on behalf of Nasionale Pers, which publishes a number of leading Afrikaans titles, including "Die Volksblad". He said his submission, among others, was aimed at countering a misconception that Afrikaans-language newspapers had been "slavish echoes" of the ruling National Party. In a submission to the TRC last month, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) said:  "the Afrikaans Press...supported the government in its policies, defended it and deflected criticism by mounting campaigns against the English-language Press and other critics of the government and by outright disinformation. If there was questioning of the policies, these papers kept it to themselves. They followed a pattern of slavish, unquestioning support for their political leaders and their policies". The FXI’s submission conceded that there were a few Afrikaans editors who began to adopt a more "enlightened" approach, "but they dealt only with the cruder aspects of the implementation of apartheid, never the principle".

MEDIA REGULATION: South Africa’s newly-appointed national press ombudsman, Ed Linington, took office on July 1. The office of the press ombudsman would replace that of the Press Council as a voluntary media regulation body which would also provide the public with access to a complaints mechanism. The decision to abolish the council in favour of an ombudsman was taken following representations from journalists’ and media workers’ trade unions, editors’ forums and newspaper owners. The ombudsman will administer an expanded press code of conduct and provide a quick and inexpensive means of settling disputes that arise between the public and the press.