Questions about a multi-language channel

The SABC announced recently without much fanfare that it is launching a news channel operating in all the official languages except English, which is already well catered for.

It is a fresh and interesting development, and to be welcomed. A constant and telling critique of our media system has been the neglect of most of the country’s languages in print and television (less so in radio). As the public broadcaster the SABC should be stepping into areas like these that may not be commercially viable.

While the SABC does television news in all languages, it is fragmented and occasional, with some languages covered only every two days. And the current format does not allow for live running news which is at the centre of any TV news operation.

This leads me to ask how the SABC will be paying for it, especially since it is still reporting a loss: R201m in its 2022 annual report, down from R530m the previous year but still substantial.

The SABC is a state-owned enterprise without a board, the president having failed to replace the previous one, which left office more than 100 days ago. The 12 nominations from parliament have been sitting on his desk for weeks, and he need only assign a chair and deputy chair. How does the SABC approve a new channel or any budget for it without a board?

An entity especially a troubled one without the oversight of a board is like a ship adrift, moving with the tide but unable to set or change course. This ship is surrounded by icebergs that will sink it if hit, and the captain is absent.

REPACKAGING

The new channel announcement was short on detail, but it did raise a number of important questions. Will the SABC be repackaging the news it already produces or will it produce material for this channel in its own right? The SABC’s head of news, Moshoeshoe Monare, has promised it will be the latter, I am pleased to say. Simply translating news gathered in English does not work, as numerous previous ventures have shown.

Will there be a set time for each language or will they be mixed up? In what language(s) will it do live, running news the heart of any TV news operation? There will be complex politics over how much time and attention each language gets, and you can rest assured that whatever is done on this front could upset one language group or another. This will need thought, planning and consultation.

We can also see and hear every day that the SABC is struggling with the quality of its news coverage. While the news leadership has rebuilt the organisation’s independence and re-established its nonpartisanship, there is some way to go to establish consistent quality. So on top of fixing this, can the newsroom carry the additional burden of another channel? Would the energy not be better spent improving the quality of the work already being done?

The SABC can produce such a channel cheaper than anyone else as it already has a lot of the resources, including the biggest newsroom in the country. But to do it well is another thing. It will be expensive just to do it decently.

AN ENTITY WITHOUT THE OVERSIGHT OF A BOARD IS LIKE A SHIP ADRIFT, MOVING WITH THE TIDE BUT UNABLE TO SET OR CHANGE COURSE

I hope the incoming SABC board will see the value and importance of it and give it proper support though it will have to weigh it up against a range of competing priorities and pressure for savings to get to break-even.

Then there is a serious platform issue: this channel is intended for SABC+, the broadcaster’s streaming channel, and Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT), which we know has been held up for years by government bungling. These platforms may have longterm potential, but it will take time and effort to grow audiences. As things stand, it has almost none.

Monare says the SABC has an audience of 10-million for its indigenous language news at the moment. But this audience has little access to the new platforms. The plan is for the new channel to be called Kaya, which may draw objections from the commercial radio station KayaFM.

So the SABC is throwing energy and resources at a channel with little prospect of any audience in the near future? One has to ask if this is performative and symbolic

or of real importance. I can only hope it is real.