‘We need to balance negative and positive stories’: Motsoeneng

Hlaudi Motsoeneng has defended the decision by the SABC not to show coverage of violence, protests, and people destroying public property.

Speaking at a panel discussion at that the National Press Club in Pretoria on Tuesday evening, the national broadcasting chief operating officer dared people to take their complaints to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).

“I am not apologetic about what is happening within the organisation and journalists can’t tell us, or print media or any commercial radio station. They can’t decide for SABC.

“We are not apologetic about what is happening at the SABC and actually people who are complaining are in the minority. Those who are raising concerns they are in the minority. They are not more than 10,” Motsoeneng said as reported by the Pretoria News.

Motsoeneng said he was speaking from experience, being a former journalist. “Immediately when protesters see cameras, they start burning,” he said.

“For kids, if someone is burning schools they may also like to experience that; they may want to burn schools too. Some people would also want to burn hospitals, where people are sick.”

The COO said he believed that generally, media in the country did not cover ‘positive news’. “I believe we need to balance negative and positive stories.”

He was further critical of local journalists. “Because when they are reporting they are saying that in South Africa there is more poverty, but if you go around the world, you will realise there is also poverty.

“But the way we report it here in South Africa, it seems as if people in South Africa are not doing very well. I believe that if you go around the world you will realise South Africa is a better place to live in.”

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