The media has an important role in society, there are Acts that requires public broadcasters to provide a varied range of programmes in the
fields of information, culture, education and entertainment. They are also responsible for providing a reliable news service.
The public broadcaster can help to maintain diversity and play an important role in fulfilling the public's right to know. The SABC also rely on the public funds and the public right to know is a reason for its existence.
One can not deny the fact that the media like any other sector should not harm, but promote environment and sociocultural aspects. We need the media that is social responsible, and social responsibility by definition is: is ethics that guide any action, be it in media or other organizations, that put an obligation towards environment, society, culture and economy.
Today we have social responsibility in the mass media which provides that one’s right to free expression must be balanced against the private rights of others and against vital society interest. one believes that news reporting should not affect the social order but it must be objective and of public interest.
The decision by SABC to ban visuals of violence when reporting community protests in South Africa is very strange. It is the very SABC that go out its own ways to feed our kids with violent programms. They play movies that contains too much violence and sopies that contains too much sex and nudity. Today hlaudi motsoneng tells us that news reporting can incite violence, what a contradiction!!
The audience have the right to know what is going on in their country and the reporting must be real, and not sanitised .Showing people burning schools would not harm the public but it would help us improve as a society in terms of security and other aspects. For example if you show people barricades roads and burning tires a lot of questions will be asked about our police ability to enforce law and order. In that way spike debate and improve our security system and our people's behavior. For instance, Pretoria protester have learnt that burning of schools is not the right thing to do and even some of vuwani protester were actually in defense and protective of their schools. We want to see the visuals of those conducting criminal activities being apprehended, and we want to be the judges.
Banning of violent protest Visuals doesn't solve any thing it only contradicts with audience right to know which is crucial. The audience have the capabilities to interpret the news themselves and can't be guided to a certain interpretation.
Sometimes I am accused of creating complexity out of something that is perhaps very simple and straightforward
to others because I spend time analyzing things. But if people can look at SABC decision juxtapost the current Paranoia of the ruling party, perhaps some would agree with me that the SABC has a hidden agenda, and they are banning violent visuals to protect the current government. There can not be any sensible justification by the broadcaster, their general program content is violent as it has been mentioned on this writing. The current government is paranoid after what happened to Brazilian government and they believe that there is underground forces that want to overthrow the government. Remember jessie Duarte utterances? "many of the protests were not about service delivery but fights over power and resources. The sad thing about our country is that wherethe ANC has truly delivered you find the worst nature protests. The reality is that BRICS (Brazil ‚ Russia‚ India‚ China and South Africa) is being attacked at the moment. What happened to Rousseff in Brazil could happen so easily here tomorrow because of what people call a colour revolution‚”. The ruling party believes that the protests are less about service delivery and more about a fight about resources and power.
"And so are we in trouble? Yes. And what must we do? We must close ranks now". Closing ranks start by controlling what people must see and hear, you start to promulgate propaganda and making people to believe that all is well.
In the same vein Gwede Mantashe said “We are aware of the programme that takes young people to the United States for six weeks then bring them back and plant them everywhere in the campuses.”
"We must defend the revolution and defend every attack on the ANC structures,". As if it was not enough COSATU has came out with an election powerful phrase like "Defend the revolution". The question is against who?.. So It is not a coincidence at all, unless they can convince some of us.
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