The inquiry into the state of affairs of the public broadcaster began this past week. Among the more interesting revelations of the inquiry this past week was that the Gupta family attempted to buy a stake in the SABC's 24-hour news channel, SABC News Channel (DStv 404).
This is according to Phil Molefe, who was the group's head of news at one point in time and acting CEO thereafter.
Though it would be less controversial if they tried to buy a stake in, say, SABC1, attempting to buy a stake in the public broadcaster's news channel is something that should be raising more concern than what it is. You cannot separate the 24-hour news channel from the newsroom and news gathering operations.
There is also absolutely no way that trying to buy shares in a news channel can be pure of intention. News channels have extremely high operating costs and are generally not profitable to run. Organisations around the world run news channels mainly for the prestige and the only way CNN was able to make a reported $1billion dollars in profit this year is because of record high viewership driving up ad revenue and transmission fees from different pay-tv platforms not only in the US but around the world. Now consider the fact that SABC News Channel's only income would be transmission fees from Multichoice (ad revenue is small for pay tv channels in SA).
What is the return on investment the Guptas could have received? Editorial influence of the country's largest news organsisation?
This bit of information also adds new perspective on the launch of ANN7. South African went five years with having just one news channel (eNCA), but went a mere three weeks with having two as ANN7 went on air in what seemed to be a rushed launch just 21 days after SABC News Channel went on air.
ANN7 is part of Infinity Media, which has among its shareholders the same Gupta family that tried to buy a stake in a public news channel.
[THIS ARTICLE IS DIFFERENT IN STYLE COMPARED TO MY RECENT WORK. FEEDBACK WOULD BE APPRECIATED]
The controversial Gupta family today (rather unexpectedly) announced that they will be selling all their ownership stakes in their South African businesses. Among these is a stake in Infinity Media, which runs ANN7 (and national newspaper, The New Age).
Currently, Oakbay Investments, which is the Gupta's investment arm, owns a 35% stake in Infinity Media. Mabengela Investments, which owns a 21% investment in the company, is owned and ran by friends and associates of the Gupta family, including Duduzane Zuma. (The rest of Infinity Media's owners is made up of ANN7's managers and a 35% stake owned by an Indian media conglomerate which also owns Zee World).
The family hopes to divest from the country by the end of the year and say they are in talks with international investors about purchasing their business interests.
The Guptas' stake in Infinity Media will most likely be sold indirectly when Oakbay is sold, though the possibility remains that the media house could be spun off on its own from investors that are not interested in taking over a newspaper and tv news channel, both of which have struggling brands.
Both ANN7 and The New Age are going to struggle in the coming year when it comes to ad revenue (as if they have not already been struggling). Most companies that advertise through the two avenues are either Gupta-owned or are owned by associates of the Gupta family, if not government agencies.
That in itself would deter investors who obviously do not want to invest in businesses looking at declining revenue streams. When you purchase a media house, one of the bigger things your are actually purchasing is the brands and the brand loyalty. After all, it is easier to start a newspaper than it is to build a loyal base. In this case, both have been accused of favouring certain individuals politically, proven to infringe upon workers rights, and have small market shares, among others, all factors that could chase investors away.
The next few months just unexpectedly became interesting.
[Persoanlly, I hope ANN7 gets owners that breathe new life into the channel. Though they continue to invest in young talent, they do seem to be plateauing and new, exciting leadership might just be what they need to break the next ceiling]
Late last week the SABC News Channel abruptly cancelled their daily in depth news programme, On the Record with Vuyo Mvoko, after just under three months.
The City Press is reporting that the reason for the cancellation is that Mvoko, who is also a contributing editor at the SABC, planned to discuss the state capture by the Gupta family on the show. This then led to disagreements between Mvoko and the higher ups at the SABC which has now led to the cancellation of the show.
Mvoko also planned to interview Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, who said he was offered the role of Fiance Minister by the Gupta family, on the show.
This move is just another that is bringing to light the SABC's apparent policy to not broadcast anything critical of the President or the ANC.
On the cancellation, Mvoko tweeted, "#OnTheRecord on #sabcnews tonight. #OTR_404 is no more. Thanks 4 support. Apologies for abrupt end." Since the tweet, many have expressed disappointment in the move, including the Public Protector, who tweeted the following in reply, "@PublicProtector Team is saddened by the news. We trust the canning of #OTR_404 is not due to improper motives."
The SABC News Channel schedule will go back to what it was before On The Record started, airing a three hour Your World from 9pm.
ANN7 and its sister newspaper, The New Age, made the headlines today when EFF leader, Julius Malema, stated at a press briefing today that journalists from the two Infinity Media entities are no longer welcomed at EFF events.
Infinity Media, the holding company of ANN7 (DStv 405, ann7.com/livetv) and The New Age, is owned by the controversial Gupta family, who have resurfaced in the media these past few weeks as a result of their close relations with senior ANC officials. Malema, along with members of the EFF, are accusing the two media entities (which share the same editor, Moegsien Williams) of not conducting proper reporting, but are instead acting as a mouthpiece for the Gupta family in the same way as 'Naspers did for the Apartheid government.' Furthermore, he stated that individuals working for these orgamisations would 'not be safe' at EFF events.
[You can see Malema's full media briefing by clicking here. (eNCA)]
The move was met, expectedly, by uproar from members of the press, with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) commenting on the story throughout the day to media houses, including having a representitive present at both ANN7 and SABC News Channel's debates around the issue. SANEF stated that it was unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists.
The ruling party's spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, also condemned the comments made by Malema, going further to state that these comments incite violence and goes against the same constitution that allows Malema to be in parliament.
ANN7 and the New Age's editor-in-chief, Moegsien Williams, appeared on ANN7 throughout the day to comment on the matter. Speaking to Karabo Yibe on ANN7's Good Evening SA, Moegsien stated, "[The statements] reminds me a lot of Donald Trump in the United States who wants to ban Muslims and throw reporters out of press conferences.He is our very own Donald Trump and I worry about that kind of language when we have an election coming up."
ANN7
Ironically, ANN7 was the only tv channel broadcasting the comments made by Malema on live tv. eNCA only streamed the event in its entirety. However, once the comments were made, ANN7's assistant editor on duty decided to cut the feed to the event from the broadcast, whilst the journalists from ANN7 that attended the event remained behind.
ANN7 covered the story throughout the day. As aforementioned, editor Moegsien Williams appeared multiple times on air throughout the day to discuss the issue. The channel's ANN7 Prime debate of the day centered on the issue.
On the panel was Williams, who was joined by William Bird (Director, Media Monitoring Africa) and Moshoeshoe Monare (council member, SANEF).
Monare stated that it was unacceptable for a political party to victimise journalists based on who owns the media house they work for. He further echoed the sentiment of SANEF that Malema's remarks threaten freedom of expression.
Bird stated that if the party had issues with the media house, they should have raised the issue with management, not deal with it in the manner that they did.
Oddly, at the end of the debate, when it was time to reveal viewers' reply to the Question of the Day, "Can we allow Malema to incite hate against media organization?" more than two thirds of viewers who participated the poll voted 'yes,' which must have been very awkward for anchor Peter van Onselen to make sense of.
SABC News Channel
SABC News had an in depth discussion on the matter on their recently launched, really well done, new program, On The Record with Vuyo Mvoko. The discussion had a representitive of the EFF present, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, and a representitive from the South African national Editor's forum, Adriaan Basson, present.
Ndlozi continued to echo the sentiment among EFF members today that The New Age and ANN7 are not media, but instead are 'the communications department of the Gupta family masqerading as independent journalism.' He further stated that these news outlets serve only to normalise and legitimise the Guptas in South Africa today. He also stated that the EFF is conscious of the fact that this action puts the journalists that work at ANN7 and The New Age in the crossfire. Ndlozi did say these journalists are welcomed to EFF events in their personal capacity, but may not come in the name of the news outlets owned by the Gupta family.
Basson stated that SANEF are disappointed by the actions of the EFF and have previously perceived them to be welcoming to members of the press. He stated the organisation thought the actions were wrong and against the freedom of media freedom.
eNCA
South Africa's most watched news channel, eNCA, only covered the story as one element of the bigger story regarding the EFF's planned march against Zuma and the Guptas. In the report which included these comments from Malema, eNCA only ever mentioned 'media organisations owned by the Guptas,' not once referring to ANN7 or The New Age by name. A channel that stands up for press freedom in other countries barely gave airtime for press freedom here. [They really displayed a total lack of support to a fellow news organisation, even though that news organisation is a distant third to them when it comes to viewership, so they should not have feared losing many viewers by merely saying the word 'ANN7' on air ]
