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The right thing to do
24/07/2007 09:24 - (SA)
Chris Moerdyk
Just what is it about the SABC that sees it continually embroiled in scandal, controversy and political high-jinks week in and week out?
Is it bad management, arrogance, naivety, lack of understanding of the media industry, just plain stupidity or genuinely mission impossible?
Last week's laughable display of petty corporate petulance over having lost out on soccer coverage to Supersport gave way on the weekend to a not-so-laughable allegation of yet another scam allegation - this time by its own lawyers.
And, with only a few years every now and then in which the national broadcaster has been able to take a few deep breaths without having been clobbered by controversy, this has been going on for all of the 45 years that I have been in the media business.
One thing is for sure. Running the SABC is not easy. Especially if one is not a media industry person who has the advantage of having come up through the ranks and having your hide toughened by harsh experience.
It's not an easy job
And there's no doubt that having to try and be all things to all men, women and children in one's programming as the politicians insist and then having to try and make money on top of this in spite of a completely impractical and cash consuming local content policy, is as close to real live mission impossible as one can get.
Add to this the imperative of providing education and information to the masses and it becomes completely ludicrous particularly because what the masses really seem to want from TV and radio is not to be taught anything but to be entertained. Why else would seven out of the country's top 10 TV programmes in 2006 be soap operas? That should tell the SABC and Parliament something but apparently it doesn't.
Frankly, it seems that the continuous battering the SABC gets, particularly from the print media, is because of a combination of all sorts of issues.
Certainly, there is no doubt that the SABC, no matter how well it is run, will always be watched like a hawk by the print media and that every slip will be pounced upon. Not only because the print media sees everything SABC does wrong as a good story but there's also an element of professional jealousy there too because there is no doubt that some newspapers are very much aware that over the past decade when the advertising pie was much smaller than it is today, SABC was making serious inroads into newspaper profits by aggressively chasing more and more of the advertising pie.
Love-hate relationship
It's very much a love-hate relationship between TV and the newspapers and magazines. On one hand they sell a lot of newspapers and magazines by riding on the back of programmes and on the other they believe they also sell papers by exposing the SABC whenever it stumbles.
And on this point the SABC is hardly blameless. It seems to lead with its wide and very exposed jaw in everything it does. Small wonder so many people take a swing at it.
And I am not entirely convinced that the reason SABC seems to have sunk back into its apartheid era of kowtowing to government demands is because of the pressure being placed upon it by its political masters. I reckon it's more about its top people in management and the news department going completely overboard with ingratiating themselves with the ANC hierarchy as every possible opportunity.
All of which has made SABC itself and particularly its news division as bereft of credibility as it was in the apartheid era.
Licence to fail
It is also always amusing to see the SABC bleating about costs and whining about profitability when it is so inept at collecting its licence fees. For years now, only about a quarter of TV set owners have bothered to pay their licences. And still SABC continues to run silly little advertising campaign trying to persuade people to pay up because it's the right thing to do.
All of which is a monumental waste of time. And when last did a TV licence inspector visit you? I haven't seen one in years - maybe because I am one of the idiots that pays my licence fee regularly in spite of very rarely ever watching SABC .
However stupid, unfair and outdated the concept of a TV licence is, it is a valuable resource that the SABC is squandering.
But, in spite of SABC sustainability in terms of a profitable and credible broadcaster is looking like it is mission impossible, the solution must surely lie in changing the one common denominator that has been part of SABC tradition with few exceptions ever since it started.
And that it has been run not only at management level but at board levels as well by people who were not brought up in or even vaguely familiar with the intricate machinations of the media industry. Lawyers, politicians and like have all had their chance and stuffed it up.
Perhaps it's time to bring in someone who actually knows what broadcasting is all about.
Send your comments to Chris.
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