Thu, 02 August 2007, 0:00
SABC News and South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) had a meeting where the Board’s concerns around a perceived anti-Semitic bias on the part of SABC were discussed.
At the meeting no agreement was reached regarding the use of commentators on the Middle East. The SAJBD proposed the use of “moderates from both sides” whenever the Middle East issue was discussed and the SABC reiterated its commitment to the Editorial Code of the Corporation with specific reference to the need for balanced reporting.
SABC did not agree to any form of pre-publication censorship, but agreed that the Jewish Board of Deputies could access quarterly content analysis provided to the SABC by an independent media monitoring company, to be used as a basis of discussion should concerns about bias remain.
Editorial briefings are a regular feature in SABC News rooms and are used in order to provide editorial staff with a range of viewpoints on developments within the country and internationally. A wide variety of stakeholders and newsmakers have participated in these briefings, and the Jewish Board are no exception.
Likewise, there was no undertaking on the part of News management to “speak to the relevant people regarding getting coverage”, for Pogrund and Eid, merely that editorial staff would be informed of their presence in the country and of their availability to be interviewed. With the understanding that they are representing a particular view-point, they too have been invited to an editorial briefing. They are as entitled to this as any other interest group within society.
As public broadcaster we have regular engagements with stakeholders – as people from business, the trade unions, government and civil society will acknowledge. In none of these engagements have we ever agreed to compromise the editorial integrity of the Corporation. Any suggestion to the contrary by the Freedom of Expression Institute is accordingly rejected especially as it is based on a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.
Issued by: Group Communications. For further information, please direct your queries to: Kaizer Kganyago, SABC Spokesperson on 082 306 8888.
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