The SABC has responded to criticism that the banning of reading newspaper headlines on-air is a form of censorship that has been implemented.
Speaking to TMG Entertainment on Thursday‚ SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed the broadcaster has banned the reading of newspaper headlines on all programs across its TV and radio platforms with immediate effect.
“This is a business decision that was made this week. It is not a policy but simply a decision that we have made as an institution‚” Kaizer said.
He added that the decision came from the realisation that the reading of newspaper headlines was providing free advertising for the publications that the headlines were being read from.
“The SABC makes 80% of its revenue from advertising and so by us reading newspaper’s content we are just giving them free publicity. They do not pay us for that exposure and we are not required to prove it‚” Kaizer said.
The move has caused a stir on social media with fans accusing the public broadcaster of censorship‚ especially in light of a recent decision by the broadcaster to not air violent service delivery protests.
Kganyago said that the two are not related.
“This decision is not a form of censorship in anyway. How can it be? We are not obligated to read newspaper headlines on our show. If people want to read headlines they can see it on billboards. We have an obligation to provide news content to our audiences but that can be done through our own internal news organisation that gathers and provides news to our platforms‚ We refuse to give people free advertising‚” he added.
Banning newspaper headlines is not censorship‚ says the SABC
The SABC has responded to criticism that the banning of reading newspaper headlines on-air is a form of censorship that has been implemented.
Speaking to TMG Entertainment on Thursday‚ SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed the broadcaster has banned the reading of newspaper headlines on all programs across its TV and radio platforms with immediate effect.
“This is a business decision that was made this week. It is not a policy but simply a decision that we have made as an institution‚” Kaizer said.
He added that the decision came from the realisation that the reading of newspaper headlines was providing free advertising for the publications that the headlines were being read from.
“The SABC makes 80% of its revenue from advertising and so by us reading newspaper’s content we are just giving them free publicity. They do not pay us for that exposure and we are not required to prove it‚” Kaizer said.
The move has caused a stir on social media with fans accusing the public broadcaster of censorship‚ especially in light of a recent decision by the broadcaster to not air violent service delivery protests.
Kganyago said that the two are not related.
“This decision is not a form of censorship in anyway. How can it be? We are not obligated to read newspaper headlines on our show. If people want to read headlines they can see it on billboards. We have an obligation to provide news content to our audiences but that can be done through our own internal news organisation that gathers and provides news to our platforms‚ We refuse to give people free advertising‚” he added.
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