Exactly a day after the biggest fire disaster in the history of the SABC decimated Studio 6 at Henley Studios at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters, incinerated equipment and destroyed the Isidingo set, I give the SABC a B score for the way the public broadcaster has handled crisis communications.
Meanwhile in my opinion as a TV critic and as a journalist covering the TV industry I can't but give the Isidingo production company Endemol South Africa as well as SABC3 (the channel which broadcasts the soap) a deplorable F for FAIL - both of which, despite media requests - haven't uttered a single word in public about their own TV show.
The shocking way in which both Endemol SA and SABC3 point-blank refuse to talk after a major public disaster befell one of their major properties, once again underscores how completely out of touch South Africa's TV industry is with communication best practice - especially when it comes to crisis communication - compared to overseas TV industries. One would think that because both are communication companies that they would excel at communication since that is what they manufacture and produce daily, but it wasn't the case today.
It also shows how the South African TV industry (largely run on fear) and viewers are constantly not getting the same level of information and respect which is considered de rigeur in America and Britain.
Let's imagine a Boeing airplane from South African Airways (SAA) falls at Cape Town airport which belongs to the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). Nobody - not a single trade or beat specific journalist or the public would accept only ACSA talking or making a statement(s) about the disaster. SAA and Boeing would all be asked for comment and they are far more likely to actually give a statement, make people immediately available for interviews and be available.
Yet in the case of the Isidingo blaze which erupted at Henley Studios, that is exactly what happened today. Neither SABC3 (SAA) which has the vehicle or property (Boeing, which is in this case Endemol SA) could be bothered to talk. Shocking, huh? But all too common to me in general of South Africa's TV industry after 13 years of covering it.
Where the financial sector - banks and insurance giants - politics and other industries much more readily talk, this country's TV industry either never really kept up, or have been treated with such kids' gloves for so long by the absence or real hard news coverage that they don't seem to feel the need to talk immediately and directly or as readily as other organisations, political parties and companies which I've covered as a hard news journalist working for tomorrow's newspaper long before I decided to specialise and concentrate on television only.
The SABC gets a B from me which is a very high score from a broadcaster which often in the past have somehow struggled to respond soon enough. This time the SABC responded soon enough and correctly.
The only thing preventing the golden star of an A for the SABC is the daft person who somehow allowed its incompetent looking Hlauding Motsoeneng, the acting chief operating officer (COO) to talk on television, only to say that "this is something the SABC can't handle", as well as bringing up the SABC's dire financial situation and saying the SABC isn't financially sound. Hlaudi Motsoeneng's inane utterances immediately made many in the industry smile today when I talked to them - and it wasn't smiles of joy.
I have to single out and mention the SABC's corporate spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago for who I have a lot of respect since yesterday. When sources started feeding me the news instantly on Wednesday night, I called Kaizer Kganyago half an hour before midnight. He not only answered his phone - he answered all of my questions. He had answers with actual content which wasn't filler, and didn't sound irritated as he could have been. Well done for being what a spokesperson should be in and during an emergency: available, willing and knowledgeable.
The SABC also quickly issued press statements corporately on Thursday explaining the SABC board's position, as well as the SABC's position as a broadcaster and giving the overall picture. It was above standard compared to what I'm used to overall from everyone, and better from the SABC than in the past.
I however decided to make direct contact (since its an urgent exceptional news story) with SABC3 executives who've I asked very early on Thursday for some sort of comment, response, or reaction.
I wanted SABC3 to show me, and by implication its viewers, the TV industry, and stakeholders like the Isidingo cast and crew, that the channel cared. Well. It's now more than 24 hours (the lifetime of an oak tree in TV terms) and nobody has been able to report any statement from SABC3 specifically because none has been issued by SABC3 or from SABC3 through the SABC's corporate communications channel.
Whatever reason there is that SABC3 can't or didn't issue its own very simply and short statement -expressing sympathy for, and solidarity with the Isidingo cast and crew, assuring viewers of quality entertainment and that the show will continue, reminding viewers and fans that Isidingo actors will continue to be seen at SABC3's roadshows, that SABC3 will survive and that so too will the show - that reason is WRONG and its a collosal mistake, wasted opportunity and not how the rest of the world does it.
SABC3's Expresso on Thursday morning was great. Graeme Richards had Kaizer Kganyago on the line and did a Q&A. Later during the day however, I waited in vain however for the live episode of Three Talk with Noeleen on SABC3 to devote the first 5 or the last 5 minutes of the show to some SABC3 executive (anyone!) to just basically explain the fire and the Isidingo situation.
Instead with throaty Peter de Villiers and his new book as guest, Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and the show - and SABC3's executives - looked completely out of touch and irrelevant. In my opinion they wasted a golden opportunity in an in-house communication window straight to the outside world, to talk directly, quickly and in a controlled situation to the constituents who matter most - SABC3's and Isidingo's loyal viewers.
If something happened in America to a specific show on a specific broadcaster, lets say Two and a Half Men with the sensitive disaster that was Charlie Sheen on CBS, the TV channel would definitely comment - but so would Warner Bros Television which produces the show. Yet Sivan Pillay, the managing director of Endemol South Africa who always have those lovely drop-in quotes in Isidingo and other press releases didn't want to say anything. He told me Endemol SA follows "protocol" [meaning the SABC corporately speaks for them].
Well, viewers and the TV industry and people outside of the bubble don't know and frankly don't care for "protocol". They want to know what is going on as it happens or happened, quickly, truthfully, and they want to know and feel that you care.
It's not about the two sentences as comment on an issue I often have to beg for from people who simply don't see why it's important - it's like the chocolates you give on someone's birthday. Its the act of it which shows that you're actually thinking about and taking time to think about the other people who matters besides just wanting "containment" and information flow control. And the people - the viewers - who are the very reason you are able to exists as a TV channel and as a production company in the first place.
As I said, in my opinion the SABC did much better despite a big disaster which unfolded today. No-one can fault the way the SABC overall communicated corporately about where the broadcaster stands. But we're (yet) to hear from the actual channel the show is on, and from the people who actually make the show.
Of course what most probably happened here and what is troubling, is that both SABC3 as a TV channel as Endemol SA agreed to be subservient to the overall SABC's (wrong) strategy. That strategy entails that only the SABC would speak. That means that the SABC3 and Endemol SA don't speak up for themselves - which I think they should. The industry and viewers want to hear from you yourself what is going on. It's not like you don't have an opinion or something to say - it's just not coming out to be heard and read.
Despite all that was lost in the Isidingo fire, perhaps Endemol South Africa and SABC3 can learn to gain one thing: the ability to just reach out and talk.
Learn to use the opportunity when its given by a journalist or a publication or media platform, to respond and give a comment, or a sentence, to those who it really actually matters most to hear from you in the first place: the viewer.
