SABC expresses concern about "ad ban" claims

The SABC has expressed its concern regarding The Star newspapers' headline "SABC bans Zuma Advert", published yesterday, 27 November 2012. The broadcaster is of the view that the advert implied an endorsement of the product sold by the Fish and Chip Company, but the headline made no reference to the ad actually being for fish and chips.

The SABC states that it reserves the right to exercise editorial control over all content, as per its trading terms, licence conditions, and public broadcast mandate.

In line with SABC trading terms and conditions, material for broadcasting a television advert must be received five working days before broadcast, therefore allowing the SABC an opportunity to do all the technical and quality checks and reviews as required.

In the case of this advertisement, the SABC received the material from the agency electronically at 2:09pm on Friday 23 November 2012 for flighting on Monday 26 November 2012.

By 4pm on Monday afternoon, the ad had been uploaded to YouTube by The Fish and Chip Company, and communication with the media was already taking place. At that point, there had reportedly been no formal correspondence to Metropolitan Republic Group, regarding the SABC's position on the advert.