South Africa’s broadcasting signal distributor Sentech
recently scrambled Wiztech decoder satellite channels in accordance with a court order in the same country. These channels have been popular not only in Zimbabwe
but in a majority of Southern African states. As a result, and for Zimbabweans
in particular, there has not only been anguish and gnashing of evening teeth
since a significant urban majority had taken to watching the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) channels
available on these Wiztech channels.
The
first indications of the disappointment at this move for Zimbabweans was to be found
in humorous posts on social media about how they will now be forced to revert
back to our very own Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) programmes.
In true Zimbabwean fashion, we are using dry humour to cope with this
new development as we tend to do with a lot of our political, social and economic challenges.
I am also sure that in the next week there shall be some seriously good
debates about the import of the public outcry over Sentech’s actions. The issue
might even make it to a SADC summit or find itself within the lexicon of outstanding
issues in relation to media reforms as we approach elections.
The reality of the matter is however much more grim and a
serious indictment on the Zimbabwean government whichever side of its ending ‘inclusiveness’
one supports. This is because having had a state broadcaster in the form of ZBC
since independence there has been not only a patent failure to democratize it’s
public service broadcasting function but also a failure to subject it to
domestic/national competition. Hence the outcry at the loss of SABC channels.
And it is these two points that I wish to
explore in this brief article. As regards the failure to reform ZBC, the informed argument
that has been given by colleagues at organisations such as the Media Institute
of Southern Africa (Zimbabwe Chapter) have related to how structurally flawed
the corporation is. Particularly where it comes to the fulfillment of a Public
Service Broadcaster mandate, MISA Zimbabwe and others have found that ZBC performs
more as a state than a public service broadcaster. This is mainly
due to a general lack of editorial independence of the corporation from the
government of the day and the over-politicization of its functions.
It is also now
generally accepted that the same said lack of editorial independence of ZBC has
directly affected the content of its broadcast output through its five radio
stations (one on Short Wave) and two national television channels (thought TV 2
does not cover the entirety of the country). This content has generally been viewed as politically
partisan where and when it comes to the determination of news stories or even
programming for entertainment and ‘edutainment’. Principles of fair coverage for all, adequate
remuneration for production houses and value for public TV licence fees have
not necessarily been adhered too and therefore, the public impression ZBC has
had over the last ten or so years has been that of a partisan state media
corporation.
Naturally there will be disputations of this latter assertion,
perhaps from colleagues at ZBC or elsewhere but it is one that can only be
viewed as contributing to the decision by some Zimbabweans to decry the ‘scrambling’
of foreign TV channels on Wiztech decoders.
The other reason that explains the current state of affairs vis-a
vis ZBC and the growing pull of foreign television channels has been the lack
of alternative commercial or community domestic television channels. In the
period of the inclusive government, incremental media reforms saw the introduction
of two free to air national radio stations (with all the controversies alleged
by some quarters) but when it came to national free to air television, the
process either stalled or is awaiting a ‘re-run’ by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ).
This lack of domestic options for our country’s television
viewers (who have increased greatly over the years) has led to ours being
an easy television market not only inadvertently for SABC, etv or Btv but also
for the increasingly ubiquitous DSTV.
In essence therefore, the outcry over the loss of Wiztech channel
frequencies may be understandable but it’s also a direct result of us trying to
‘reap where we did not sow’. Our government has not undertaken the holistic
reform that is necessary to make ZBC a respected public service broadcaster and
where the parties in the inclusive government have argued for its reform, they
have sadly done so on a partisan and personalized basis. Even where ZBC was going to be difficult to reform, the lack of domestic commercial or community television station alternatives has left us the worse off and in some sort of shock over losing access to channels we neither own or deserve at law.
There is therefore an
urgent need to reinvigorate the pursuit of the reform of ZBC beyond the
partisan interests of parties in the inclusive government and in order to usher
in a new era of public service broadcasting. There is also an urgent need to insist on the reform
of the Broadcasting Services Act and its undemocratic pretext while simultaneously seeking the realistic diversification of our television and
visual media production industries. This through an urgent but democratic
licensing of new commercial television channels that can compete with both ZBC
and any current future television channels available via Wiztech or elsewhere.
*Takura Zhangazha writes in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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