Independent Media, Heritage Month and Diversity
I’m tempting fate alright! It’s Friday the 13th in the 13th year of the 21st century! Not, certainly, an auspicious date to be making speeches, especially on the challenging topic of the role of the independent media in South Africa today.
So if you don’t find my speech useful – and does it matter anyway, since you’re the experts on independent media issues, and my presence here is meant, I think, much more to symbolise our Ministry’s support for the independent media rather than to offer anything of substance? But anyway, you can put any inadequacies on my part today to my jitters about Friday, the 13th in 2013!
The freedom of the press is, of course, fundamental to our country and in many senses reflects the quality of our democracy. And, in many senses too, the independent media is crucial to the freedom of the press.
It is appropriate, it seems to me, that we are reflecting on the role of independent media during this Heritage Month because the African National Congress (ANC) and this government have a long heritage of advocating for press freedom.
The independent media, particularly community media, strengthens our democracy by giving voice to a diversity of people, some of whom would otherwise never be heard. The community media tends to be less sensational, and informative and educational in ways that the mainstream media isn’t. Independent media is relevant too to this Heritage Month because of the diversity of languages in which it is conveyed.
In many senses much of the independent, particularly community, media is, consciously or not, broadly developmental in orientation, by their very nature, and serves to consolidate our democracy in ways that the mainstream media doesn’t.
This input is entitled “The importance of the Independent Media in the Highly Concentrated Media Industry of South Africa”.
But before I move on, let me say how abhorrent the recent arson attack on community radio station Karabo FM is. From what I am given to understand, the burning down of the studio is linked to the independent role that the radio station played in the campaign to integrate the Parys and Sasolburg communities.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, visited the station on Wednesday, together with the Communications Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Mr Eric Kholwane. Deputy Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams is working with the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) to assist the station in getting back on the airwaves and re-asserting its role as an autonomous voice in the region.
Importance of Independent Media in view of media Monopoly
There is, of course, a very high level of concentration of ownership and control of the print media. There are 4 major media houses - Media 24 (Nasionale Pers), the Independent, Times Media and Caxton/CTP. Together they own about 95% of the print media.
I have drawn for this input on the statistics provided by department officials and from an expert, and I have not had the time to verify them. If they are not accurate, kindly raise that with me in the discussion time.
Until recently Irish-owned, Independent News and Media group has now been acquired by Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM), a subsidiary of the South African-based Sekunjalo Holdings, a multi-sector conglomerate. SIM has approximately 20-25% foreign shareholding. The SIM group owns nine daily newspapers.
Apart from the big four, there is also, of course, the Mail & Guardian, which is foreign-owned, and the new print media entrant, The New Age (TNA), which is 50% foreign-owned. Black ownership in the print media is 14%, and the representation of women on boards and senior management in the media is 4,4%.
The circulation patterns of newspapers show that there is a serious lack of distribution in rural areas. Close to 70% of newspapers readers, I’m told, are in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
What is of considerable concern to us as government and the majority party is that the mainstream media also gobbles up community media when they become commercially viable or successful in other ways. This is not fair, especially where public funds have been used to start community media. We need to discuss what government needs to do to protect the community media from the predatory tendencies of the mainstream media.
Assessment of print-media ownership alone does not provide an accurate picture of the media environment in South Africa. Within the media itself, Media 24 (Nasionale Pers) dwarfs the combined presence of its three competitors – the Independent, Times Media and Caxton/CTP.
Internationally, I am told, it is one of just 20 South African companies in the Forbes top 2 000 global companies. A Columbia University expert suggests that the South Africa is possibly in the world’s top five most concentrated media markets.
News 24, it is said, accounts for more than 60% of all daily newspaper sales and readership including the high circulation Daily Sun, more than half of all weekly newspaper sales and readership, about 70% of all magazine sales and readership, and nearly half of all community newspaper sales and readership.
It has a monopoly in terrestrial subscription TV (MNet) and more than 95% of DTH (satellite) subscription TV. It also Controls the country’s major internet service providers (mainly through MWeb).
Also, in an environment in which a growing proportion of South Africa’s people receive their information from digital platforms its combined traditional media-digital media influence is enormous.
The mainstream print media is limited and limiting. The understanding of the freedom of expression in this country is often limited to the freedom of the media, and that usually means mainstream media. The views of the independent and community media sector are too marginal, certainly given what this country needs.
Community media is more important than it might otherwise be in view of the high level of concentration of ownership and control of the media our country.
For all the constraints, you, as the Association of Independent Publishers, are doing good work, and I congratulate you. I see a very impressive range of titles that you cater for, across the length and breadth of our country. You have about 230, I gather. I hope anyway that you and the independent, particularly community, media you bring together grow in strength.
The role and responsibilities of independent print media
So what, beyond what was said at the outset, might be your broader role, as we see it in our Ministry? Just some brief, quick, cursory thoughts in the limited time I have for this input.
We think the independent media, particularly the community media, have a very important role to play in this country.
We can’t, of course, uncritically support the independent media. You’re of different shades and character even if you share a broad common identity. Some within the community media are out there just to make profits. Just as an aside, we are seeing this played out right now with the MoneyWeb vs Fin24 case and are paying close attention to see how that pans out.
The success of your sector, of course, lies in being able to reach out to communities in a way that the mainstream media rarely does. You are able to capture the trials and tribulations of a community much better than the mainstream newspapers.
The independent print media should, it seems to me, play a more robust role in informing and educating the communities you serve. When I served as the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, I saw how the independent print media can keep municipalities on their toes with issues that are plaguing the areas they serve.
They can, with their feel of a community’s pulse and reporting on its concerns, serve as early warning mechanisms on discontent that municipalities can heed. Some, too few sadly, do. The mainstream media on the other hand usually are mainly interested only after something is set alight.
Besides reporting on local issues, I think this sector should also play a more vibrant role in our democracy. We have a wonderful Constitution, which we are repeatedly told is among the world’s best, but almost twenty years into our democracy many people are not familiar with it. They need to be more aware of their rights and responsibilities.
They need to become more active citizens and help to shape their democracy more. Much of the community media is at the heart of the community. Shouldn’t you be playing a more active role in informing and educating ordinary people about the Constitution? Of course, as government we should do more. But surely you too have an important role?
And if some of you are wary of the ANC and the government, fine. Don’t play this role in the interests of the ANC and government. Do it in the public interest, in the common national interest. It’s ultimately about stabilising and consolidating our emerging, and in some senses, fragile democracy. Your democracy!
It would be helpful if the independent, especially community media, played a role in making more people aware of the National Development Plan and foster discussions on it. Yes, parts of the NDP are, understandably, contested, but it provides a broad framework for a wide cross section of the country to become more actively involved in shaping the future of our country.
Sustainability of the independent print media
There is much talk that, with all the technological changes and the increasing significance of social media, the print media is seriously threatened and beginning to fade. That’s certainly a concern you share with the mainstream media.
But there’s also, in some senses, a contradictory picture. The independent and community media has been able to increase its circulation largely because it is mostly free. The success of tabloid newspapers in recent years suggests that South Africans are hungry for information. And much of the community print media is delivering in a format that is most accessible to the ordinary reading public.
Another emerging trend seems to be that mainstream newspapers that entertain their readers are doing better than their counterparts. Readers appear to be prepared to part with their money if they are able to find escapism in their newspapers. Newspapers that write outlandish stories outsell their more traditional counterparts that write about serious issues by a factor of 10:1. (Daily Sun sells nearly 500 000 copies a day. Business Day sells around 40 000 copies a day).
I think community newspapers need to provide both information and escapism (not necessarily of the outlandish sort) to stand a chance of remaining relevant in their communities. Finding the balance here is the trickiest part.
Even though the Internet is so widespread, 80 percent of the world’s population still do not have access to independent news coverage. And in our country internet penetration is low, even though cellphones have a very high and wide reach.
But of course, the independent, especially community, media has to take into account the technological changes that are reinventing the world we live in.
Radio and television are increasingly significant. And social media such as Twitter, Facebook and “YouTube” are becoming significant too, including among historically disadvantaged communities. Just consider the prevalence of cell-phones.
Maybe the newspapers that’ll survive better into the future are those that take up social issues and become newspapers of record in their communities? Call them activist newspapers, if you like – are they are not the future?
Government Support for Independent and Community Media
The main government body that supports independent media is, of course, the MDDA. It falls under the oversight of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency. The MDDA provides assistance to community media such as radio, television and newspapers.
The Government Communication and Information services (GCIS), located in the Presidency, runs a media buying agency that secures advertising space in community newspapers on behalf of government departments. GCIS is committed to spending 30% of government’s advertising budget on community media. Exactly how effective it is in implementing this is not clear at this stage.
GCIS also has a studio in Pretoria and in Cape Town where they produce two news bulletins a day for community radio. They are able to link community radio stations for current affairs shows where one messenger can talk to an audience of about 8.5 million listeners. This is impressive.
There is no official policy in our department on the independent media as a whole. Maybe we need to discuss this with you and see whether we shouldn’t develop a policy on the independent media in general in addition to what we have on community media?
At present we support community radio and television with technical assistance and funds. We are more involved in community radio. We provide support through sponsoring equipment, training and capacity development, and paying for the signal distribution costs of community radio stations. This year we paid R4 million to Sentech through the Community Radio Support Programme.
We would like to do more, but there are budgetary and other constraints.
But both the government and the ANC are very clear. We need more diversity in the media. The ANC’s Mangaung resolutions, which serve as a broad guide for government policies, support media diversity, in ownership, control and content.
So, yes, you’re independent, and, yes, some of you may be wary of the government and the ANC, but, hey, we’re on the same side here: we need a stronger community media sector and a less monopolised mainstream media sector! So let’s work together!
