Please find attached minutes of the Report by the Monitoring Task Team on the Government Guarantee and Conditions applicable to the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC), taken by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group during the last session in Parliament, 28 Feb 2012.

This presentation was made by the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) at the Sparks Seminar on Regulating Broadcasting in the Digital Age. The Seminar was held at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), Partktown, on 27 February 2012.

The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition made this presentation at the Sparks Seminar: Regulating Broadcasting in the Digital Age, held at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ), Parktown, on the 27 February 2012.

The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition is of the view that it doesn’t make sense for the Department of Communications (DoC) to be tabling the Electronic Communication Amendment (ECA) Bill now as it should be reviewed as part of the Broadcasting policy review process, which the Minister of Communications stated that she will be initiating. This follows reports that the DOC plans to introduce the Electronic Communication Amendment Bill and the Independent Communication Authority of SA (ICASA) Bill by March this year.

According to Robert McChesney public broadcasting is supposed to mean “that they’re doing something in their broadcasting they would not do if they were simply out to maximize profit; if they were really public service institutions, not purely profit maximizing institutions”. This is the SABC we should strive for!

On the table this week:
•  ALLEGED CORRUPTION: Former Head of Legal Services at the SABC is accused!!!
•  WHAT happened at the Icasa regulatory review conference?
•  National Treasury invests more in Digital Migration