No one is going to tell us what to do: Motsoeneng
Controversial SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng says that the public broadcaster will not be influenced by anyone, externally or internally, refuting Icasa’s ruling on its censorship policies.
He was speaking at a press conference following a decision by Icasa to order the SABC to reverse its policy not to show violent protests on the group’s stations.
Motsoeneng said that there was a “hullabaloo” over the concept of censorship, and that everyone was interpreting the SABC’s policies incorrectly.
He said that the SABC will challenge Icasa’s ruling, taking the matter to the Constitutional Court if needs be.
He said that newsrooms at all media houses and publications engaged in some form of “censorship”, and that the SABC’s policy was no different. It dismissed that it was ‘blanket-banning’ visuals, but rather “putting a veil over the footage”.
The broadcaster has maintained that the decision was not a ‘policy’ which was adopted by the company, but rather an editorial decision for the direction of the newsroom.
It said that it would still cover violent protests – but only the aftermath, with no live coverage as public property was being destroyed.
The COO claimed that it was the SABC which broke the news of the Tshwane protests – one of the main points of contention that brought the policy into the spotlight.
The SABC said it would take the matter on review, and it would not withdraw the policy as ordered by Icasa.
Icasa is the latest body to determine that the SABC’s censorship policy is against the Constitution, and illegal.
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