Protesters to picket SABC over protest footage ban

20 June 2016 - 10:35 By TMG Digital

Allegations of censorship at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will feature at protests outside its offices in Johannesburg‚ Cape Town and Durban on Monday morning. “The Right2Know Campaign‚ together with allied organisations”‚ will also be demanding the removal of its chief operations officer COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.The organisation said the state broadcaster “was transformed from propaganda machine of the apartheid state to become a public broadcaster with a mandate to service the information needs of the population in a democratic South Africa”.Hackers bring SABC sites downTen hours after it was warned, the SABC was hacked over alleged censorship. “Yet under the heavy-handed and incompetent management of Hlaudi Motsoeneng we have seen worsening censorship. Motsoeneng has been given sweeping powers to make editorial decisions – powers that he should not have – and he is a danger to the public broadcaster’s integrity and independence‚” a statement said.“We have become used to the doctoring of visuals – in Parliament‚ for instance – to save the government’s face‚ but in a recent shocking move the SABC has decided to ban visuals of protests that may include violence.”It said this ban “is reminiscent of the SABC when it was a mouthpiece of the Afrikaner Nationalist government and sought to plaster over the ugly realities of apartheid and censor the people’s struggle”.Right2Know also said the “SOS Coalition‚ Media Monitoring Africa and Freedom of Expression Institute have lodged a complaint with the Complaints Compliance Committee of ICASA over the protest ban decision” and had launched an online petition.The marches start at 10am‚ while 10.30am will see the Democratic Alliance (DA) briefing “the media on the latest developments with respect to the SABC's conduct during the 2016 local government elections” near OR Tambo International Airport.Put down the champers, here's the problem with the SABC 90% rule...There's been a lot of hoopla around the SABC's announcement last month that radio stations across its platforms would be enforcing a 90% music quota. It communications spokesperson‚ Phumzile van Damme‚ previously announced that the DA had lodged a complaint with Independent Communication Authority of South Africa to over its “refusal to air our paid election adverts”.Van Damme earlier this month has characterised the “canning” of SAfm’s “The Editors” show as the “the latest in a string of incidents of censorship of views critical of the African National Congress (ANC) government”.She cited other examples of censorship under chief executive officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng as being the “attempted banning of call-ins‚ the canning of Vuyo Mvoko’s talk show‚ banning of footage of violent protests and the censorship of DA adverts”.– TMG Digital..

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