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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Motsoeneng said that there was a “hullabaloo” over the concept of censorship, and that everyone was interpreting the SABC’s policies incorrectly.<\/p>\n
He said that the SABC will challenge Icasa’s ruling, taking the matter to the Constitutional Court if needs be.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster has maintained that the decision was not a \u2018policy\u2019 which was adopted by the company, but rather an editorial decision for the direction of the newsroom.<\/p>\n
It said that it would still cover violent protests \u2013 but only the aftermath, with no live coverage as public property was being destroyed.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The SABC said it would take the matter on review, and it would not withdraw the policy as ordered by Icasa.<\/p>\n
Icasa is the latest body to determine that the SABC’s censorship policy is against the Constitution, and illegal.<\/p>\n
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