Minister threatens ‘hostile’ print media

Minister of communications Faith Muthambi has again threatened to regulate print media.

Cape Town -

Minister of communications Faith Muthambi has again threatened to regulate print media after accusing them of “unrelenting attempts aimed at stigmatising a black government led by the ANC”.

Introducing her department’s budget vote in Parliament on Friday, Muthambi said the government had considered the media as partners and “consequently lined up a whole strategy and delivery mechanism on this false premise”.

She said fortnightly post-cabinet briefings, which contained “insightful content” were routinely ignored in favour of “scandalising government”.

“To some media houses their main mission is simply to paint this government as corrupt, hapless and inept. It could also be argued that racist tendencies also play a role,” she said, adding it was now “common cause that the independence and professionalism of many journalists are now measured on how ruthless their reporting can be about this ANC-led government”.

Print media transformation would be her department’s flagship project in the coming year, and would “be made to address not only print media ownership, but also the ownership of printing presses, the measurement of circulation, distribution channels and the assessment of regulatory instruments to regulate the affairs of media practitioners”.

There would be a print media transformation colloquium in the coming months involving roleplayers and the public, she said.

Turning to the SABC, Muthambi announced it would appoint commissioning editors in each province to source local content, replacing the system of producing content only in cities.

The black emerging filmmakers fund announced by President Jacob Zuma in the debate on the presidency budget this week would help bridge the inequality gap, Muthambi said.

“This initiative by the SABC will go a long way towards preservation of culture, tradition and heritage.”

The SABC would also soon stop flighting international content repeats, replacing these with local content.

However, opposition parties accused Muthambi of trying to centralise control of the SABC.

DA spokeswoman on communications Phumzile van Damme said the SABC’s new editorial policy was signed in secret in February, without the promised public consultation.

It gave controversial chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng “final overall responsibility for SABC content”, Van Damme said.

“What giving Hlaudi Motsoeneng full responsibility for the SABC’s content means is that a person appointed by and beholden to the minister - a political appointee - will have final say on content, thus giving the minister and the ANC government direct control over the SABC’s editorial decisions and programming.”

IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe questioned government advertising spend in the New Age newspaper, following former GCIS head Themba Maseko’s revelations that he had been under pressure by Zuma in 2010 to help the title.

“Six years later, and it is now not only the GCIS doing so,” Van der Merwe said.

“Eskom will channel just over R43m to the New Age until 2017, while Transnet have just spent R20m on the New Age in the past year.”

It was “preposterous” that in the middle of an economic crisis the government continued to waste taxpayers’ money to keep the Gupta media empire alive, Van der Merwe said.

craig.dodds@inl.co.za

Saturday Argus