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SABC commits to extensive elections coverage

9 Jan 2009

The SABC unveiled its election coverage plan to the media at its headquarters in Johannesburg yesterday, Thursday, 8 January 2009. In the plan, the public broadcaster has committed itself to reporting fair, balanced and accurate news, as well as ensuring that there is equitable coverage of all political parties during the 2009 elections.

According to SABC acting chief executive Gab Mampone, said this year's election coverage is expected to cost between R32 - R42 million, a 10% increase from previous elections.

“In a time of economic slowdown and with organisations cutting back on operational expenditure, no other South African news organisation will dedicate the type of resources to elections as the SABC,” he said.

Broadcast regulator ICASA has also extended Party Elections Broadcast (PEBs) to radio and TV. With previous elections, these were only carried on radio.

Opportunity cost

Mampone said the cost of producing PEBs has been borne by political parties, but there was an opportunity cost to the SABC in airing these broadcasts in advertising time. SABC's own self-promotion slots would be used for the broadcasts, thus mitigating the effect on advertising revenue.

SABC group executive for news and current affairs Snuki Zikalala also said the SABC is guided by election legislation on how to equitably cover political parties. This means that political parties with more representatives in parliament will receive more airtime than parties with lesser representation.

However, coverage of the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE) will not be based on the party's parliamentary seats but will be based on the news interest COPE generates.

A key feature of the election coverage will be the Election Results System (ERS). This will enable the delivery of immediate, comprehensive, contextualised election results -with features that include predictions, comparisons with previous results, demographic and geographic data. Expert election panels will continuously analyse the unfolding election as well as the results, according to Zikalala.

Special programmes

Zikalala also said the SABC will be running special election programmes to ensure that the electorate was informed about the various political parties' policies. This would include a weekly debate, which will be hosted by the University of Johannesburg and broadcast live on SABC2 on Sundays from 9pm to 10pm. The first debate will take place this Sunday, 11 January 2009.

A panel of 60 analysts will be selected for their expertise in election-related issues such as democracy and governance, service delivery, party politics, and socioeconomic issues.

“We don't want wishy-washy analysts,” said Zikalala. “We want analysts who will give South Africans the information they need to make their choices.”

Zolile Majova, managing editor for TV News, has been appointed as a complaints officer, and will deal with political parties' complaints regarding coverage.

In order to ensure that coverage is fair and equitable, an external media monitoring company will be appointed to monitor radio and TV broadcasts and provide weekly analysis.