CEO must not be involved in SABC news decisions — DA

The DA has proposed that the SABC set up an internal ombuds office and scrap its upward referral system in which the CEO is the final arbiter on editorial decisions.

It has suggested that events of national importance to be broadcast live on SABC TV be limited to occasions such as the state of the nation address‚ the budget speech‚ state funerals and significant conferences of major political parties.

The DA’s proposals are due to be presented before the SABC inquiry into political interference in the broadcaster’s newsroom.

In its written submission‚ the DA argues that the SABC’s group CEO should cease to be the broadcaster’s editor-in-chief.

All editorial decisions should be the sole domain of the head of news‚ who is a competent and trained journalist, it says.

“The full independence of SABC’s news decisions must be protected. It is imperative that the SABC’s news programming‚ in particular‚ is insulated from any commercial or political pressures that management often take into consideration.

“With the principle of journalistic‚ creative and programming independence of the staff as a guiding factor‚ news decisions should be made on the newsroom floor and left entirely to news editors,” the DA’s submission reads.

“If there are contentious issues‚ these can be consulted with the SABC’s legal department. There is no need for involvement of top management in news content decisions.

“The DA therefore proposes the removal of both the provisions related to upward referral, as well as the establishment of the group CEO as editor-inchief in the editorial policy. The SABC’s head of news‚ a journalist‚ should be made editor-inchief‚ and not the group CEO.”