Distributed public service broadcasting as an alternative model for public service broadcasting in South Africa
The purpose of this article is to propose/justify a new model for South African public service broadcasting, namely, distributed public service broadcasting. The justification is done against the background of a description of the changed and converged new media environment brought about by technol...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Communicare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1681 |
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| Summary: | The purpose of this article is to propose/justify a new model for South African public service
broadcasting, namely, distributed public service broadcasting. The justification is done against
the background of a description of the changed and converged new media environment brought
about by technological developments with the concomitant new production, content and
distribution challenges and with interactivity as the new foundation of communicator-audience
relationships. It is argued that the new media environment requires new thinking about public
service broadcasting (PSB). The need for a new model is further justified against the background
of the continued governance, managerial and financial problems the South African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) has been experiencing for more than a decade, which has led to a new but
controversial Public Service Broadcasting Bill (2009/2010) in an attempt to address the problems.
It is argued that the problems will not be resolved. Instead, a new broadcasting model should rather
be considered. It should, however, be emphasised that distributed public service broadcasting as
a new model is only introduced in this article. Detail about the model is the topic of additional
research that has yet to be done. Finally, the article should be read against the background of
what were, at the time of writing in 2010, a number of serious governmental threats to freedom
of expression with government proposing, inter alia, the introduction of a controversial Bill on the
Protection of Information and also of a Media Appeals Tribunal – both of these constituting further
threats to the autonomy of the public broadcaster and which makes it even more urgent that a
new broadcasting model be considered. The above topics are addressed in separate parts of the
article dealing with context, problems besetting South African public service broadcasting, past
and present efforts to address the problems, a justification for a new model – one focusing on the
new converged and digitised media environment – new thinking about regulation, the changed
nature of social responsibility, a semiotic justification,
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| ISSN: | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |