SABC wants to be politically correct – Raymond Louw

25 Oct 2007

NEWSWATCH: SANEF's Raymond Louw has described recent comments by Snuki Zikalala, the SABC's chief of news, as “a measure of the divide between ‘politically correct reporting' and a ‘free and independent press' acting in the interest of the public, according to The Times. Zikala, speaking at a SA Human Rights Commission seminar in Johannesburg with regards to health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's alleged drinking and abuse of power by the Sunday Times, said: “Publishing such a story is disrespectful.”

Meanwhile, reports IOL, deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told Parliament yesterday, Wednesday, 24 October 2007, that “[p]ress freedom was thriving in South Africa and the country received international recognition for its support for the principle.” What do you think? See our poll Is media freedom in SA under threat?.

Pay TV

In order “to counter the impending challenge of market competition in the form of four new operators”, Naspers's newly re-launched lower tier Multichoice payTV package consists of 10 video channels, five data channels and 28 radio stations, reports IOL Technology.

For more:

The Times: No news is good news, says Comrade Snuki
The Wild Frontier: So what's news then?
IOL: SA has embraced press freedom, says deputy
IOL Technology: Naspers enters pay-TV battle

Simone Puterman

About Simone Puterman

Simone Puterman (@SimoneAtLarge) is currently editor-at-large at Marklives.com and deputy chair of the Sanef online editors subcommittee. After majoring in psychology and linguistics at Rhodes University, and then completing her honours in psychology, she has been in the world of B2B publishing since 1997, with 7.5 year stints at both WriteStuff Publishing and Bizcommunity.com (March 2006-August 2013). Email her at moc.sevilkram@enomis.