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SABC responds to critics
The SABC says it is confounded by the lack of understanding amongst the corporations’ critics of its new strategic plans announced last week. The SABC said in a statement that, while not unexpected, the criticism “confounds the imagination when it transpires how misunderstood the corporation's role as public broadcaster is within its community”.
SABC group CEO, Dali Mpofu, announced a week ago that the corporation is entering "one of the most exciting, challenging and uncertain times in its history", noting that it is crucial for the public broadcaster to fully meet the challenges it faces in the context of a rapidly-changing media environment.
The SABC statement - issued in response mainly to contrary opinion carried on Bizcommunity.com's pages from leading industry commentators - says that "what Adv Mpofu did not spell out, assuming a certain understanding on the part of his and the SABC's critics, is that one of the biggest challenges the corporation faces, remains that it has a double bottom line.
"The SABC not only has a responsibility to balance the financial books, it also has a responsibility to balance the books of the product it puts on air. It is in this spirit that the public broadcaster has shifted emphasis in its broadcasting mandate. Yes, our primary function is to entertain, and yes, we have an educational function; but is it fair to crucify us for having taken on the added responsibility of promoting social cohesion? One thinks not," the SABC statement read.
It continues: "It is in the interests of these three 'broadcasting tasks' that the corporation will endeavour to gear every service, programme, bulletin, support service and function to answer the question 'in what way did we empower the South African citizen (viewer and listener) today?'
"To meet its own mandate, and to embody this shift, an internal focus on staff empowerment will be a parallel focus. Employees will now experience the creation of a supportive, caring and progressive environment that rewards performance, that encourages team work and innovation, and that attracts, retains and develops the best creative and technical capacity in the industry."
This strategic outlook cannot be implemented without impacting on the four pillars that buttress the SABC, it says, namely:
- People
- Operations
- Technology
- Funding
The SABC concludes by taking issue with one of Bizcommunity's regular columnists for calling its plans "astounding" (not in the positive sense). The SABC reponds thus: "Perhaps we must take cognisance of the fact that the corporation is an astounding institution with an astounding role to play in the society it serves, and leave it at that, giving the SABC full marks for setting extraordinarily high benchmarks for itself and its staff..."
Related articles on BizCommunity.com:
SABC unveils new strategic outlook - Issa Sikiti da Silva
SABC plans are pie-in-the-sky - Chris Moerdyk
SABC RIP... Rest in Pieces - Gordon Patterson
