Buried SABC report reveals ANC bias: DA

·11 Mar 2014

An unreleased market research report has revealed that South Africans believe that SABC news bulletins are biased towards the ANC.

This is according the Democratic Alliance MP and shadow minister of communications, Marian Shinn, who claims that the report was buried by the broadcaster because it delivered “bad news”.

The report, called “Project Kindle” was allegedly commissioned by the SABC to analyse declining viewership since 2009.

“I am reliably informed that, because the research agency did not educate and inform research respondents ‘when their opinions and perceptions are wrong’, it was rejected by the SABC’s market intelligence department,” Shinn said.

According to a statement by the DA detailing the reports findings, the research was conducted last year via focus groups comprising all race groups throughout South Africa.

Among its findings are:

The majority of respondents feel that the SABC’s news is biased towards the ANC;
The perception of political bias and pro-ANC political reporting creates low credibility of political reporting among SABC News viewers;
Most consumers seek other news sources to find balanced political views of events such as Marikana or President Zuma’s compound at Nkandla;
SABC 1 is believed to be the more biased of the SABC’s three free-to-air TV channels; and
There is a perception that politicians make decisions on content rather than the editors.

“This report suggests that the SABC is seen as a mouthpiece for the ANC, which is why we believe it has been buried,” Shinn said.

The DA said that it would attempt to uncover the report so that it can be debated and discussed in Parliament.