PROBLEMS WITH THE EXISTING CHARTER

1
PROBLEMS WITH THE EXISTING CHARTER

• Justine Limpitlaw
• Media Law Consultant
• Academic, University of Pretoria

2
Where do we find the SABC Charter?

• Chapter IV is headed Public Broadcasting Service
  and Charter of the Corporation.
• Part 1 is headed Public Broadcasting Service but
  it has only one section which is headed Charter
  of the Corporation
• Immediately thereunder there is a large heading
  Charter of the Corporation and it is followed by
  seven different parts, very few of which relate
  to any traditional Charter issues as the public
  mandate of the SABC

3
Where do we find the SABC Charter?

• Charter is essentially made up of the following
  sections of the Broadcasting Act
• section 6 ie Charter of the Corporation but note
  only s6(4) sets out any public mandate provisions
• section 10(1) ie public Service
• section 11(1) Commercial services
• However there are also Charter-like obligations
  on the SABC in other sections
• s2 ie objects of the Act, particularly those
  relating to the public good and public
  broadcasting in particular
• s8 certain objects of the SABC contain public
  mandate obligations eg s 8(d) on programming
  that informs, educates and entertains, s8(e) on
  disabled audiences, 8(l) re news and 8(n) re
  skills development

4
Where do we find the SABC Charter?

• However there are also Charter-like obligations
  in other sections (cont)
• S6(5)(a) requires the SABC to develop a plethora
  of policies ie news editorial, programming, local
  content, educational, universal service and
  access (note this is a signal distribution
  function), language and religious. But no
  legislative guidelines on what these need to
  contain.
• S6(8) SABC to develop a Code of Practise to
  ensure that the SABC complies with
• Constitutional principle of equality
• Equitable treatment of all segments of the
  population
• Equitable treatment of official languages
• Right to receive and impart info and ideas
• Mandate to provide for a wide range of audience
  interests, beliefs and perspectives
• High standard of accuracy, fairness and
  impartiality in news and programmes of public
  interest

5
Essential Elements of the Current Charter

• All these different sections can be distilled
  into the following four key elements of the
  current SABC Charter ie public mandate
• Nation Building
• Excellent, up to date informative programming
• Contribute to the development of SAs culture,
  languages and local cultural industries
• Provide broadcasting services of the highest
  technical standards
• Each of these elements is made up of a number of
  sub-mandate issues

6
Challenge for a New SABC Act

• Need to have a single clear Charter setting out
  the SABCs public mandate
• Broad headings identifying key areas of this
  public mandate
• Thereunder, detail goals for/requirements of this
  public mandate
• The Charter must inform
• Licence conditions
• Editorial policies etc