BREAKING. SABC's TV journalists are ''pathetic'' and broadcaster is ''a patient with multiple organ failure'' says former SABC insider.

While I was flying across the country today, Govin Reddy who is one of the 14 shortlisted candidates for one of the new 4 SABC board member positions told parliament that the SABC's TV journalists are ''pathetic'' and that the South African public broadcaster is ''like a patient with multiple organ failure''.

Govan Reddy who started the SABC's radio news station SAfm in 1995, had incredibly harsh words for the beleaguered broadcaster mired in debt and management crises in his interview before parliament's portfolio committee for communications.

''Watch the BBC when there is a breaking story,'' said Govin Reddy. ''They will go on camera with someone in New York. The presenter who is interviewing, interviews with absolute authority. They have done the research, they know it all. You don't get that from the SABC. The reporters from the field are pathetic I'm sorry to say. You have to speak simple language and give context and background and educate. They don't do that. It is stories that are just blurted out. Newsreaders at the SABC haven't been trained. Newsreaders must be journalists. Newsreaders must understand what they are reading. They mustn't be repeating words.''

Govin Reddy said the SABC is ''like a patient with multiple organ failure. There is no point fixing kidneys when the lungs have also gone. You have to get everything right but you must start somewhere. You have to get the heart pumping, before everything else. The key to a turnaround at the SABC is to have the right people.''