The Big Debate has suddenly burst
back onto the SABC, instantly becoming the biggest symbol of the public
broadcaster’s top executives to signal their serious effort to regain public
trust in its current affairs offering and to try and repair it severely dented
news output credibility.
As surprising and astounding, is that none
other that the veteran and extremely skilled presenter and interviewer Redi Tlhabi
is suddenly back as the moderator after she anchored the earlier seasons.
The Big Debate, with several significant
updates for the social media and internet age, made its 8th season
debut on the exact SABC TV channel – SABC2 – where it disappeared from exactly
four years ago.
Asked how the revival of The Big Debate on
the SABC came about, Thabiso Bhengu, senior content producer on the show, told
the SABC’s Morning Live this week that “when a notorious somebody left the
SABC, the SABC was happy to have us back”.
“And we’re happy to be helping the SABC to
become what it should be, which is the best public broadcaster in the world,”
he said.
In November 2013 The Big Debate – just before
it was supposed to start and with three episodes of its 5th season
already filmed – was abruptly yanked and permanently removed from the SABC2
schedule just days before broadcast, including an episode devoted to the
Marikana Massacre.
The debate show, from Broad Daylight Films
Foundation and and executive produced by Ben Cashdan, was culled from the SABC
airwaves on the direct orders of the then acting chief operating officer (COO),
Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
At the time Hlaudi Motsoeneng was only in the
beginning phase of what was to become a sweeping, widening and pervasive censorship
drive by the controversial executive.
His later-described “reign of terror” would
eventually see the SABC impose draconian newsroom censorship that extended to,
and ended with, his shocking ban in 2016 on showing visuals on SABC News of the
destruction of property and infrastructure during public protests.
The SABC said at the time that The Big Debate
was “incorrectly commissioned and compromised the editorial oversight of the
SABC newsroom”.
The SABC-neutered season of The Big Debate
was instantly picked up by eNCA (DStv 403) and e.tv that broadcast three
seasons of the lively town hall debate type show that ended with a 7th season in 2016 with Masechaba Lekalake as moderator.
A bold, brazen return
of free speech
Now The Big Debate is “back” on SABC2 as a
hard-hitting current affairs talk show that had no less than the topic of
“State Capture” for its first new episode.
It is something that would have been unheard
of on the SABC of just a year ago, with widely disparate guests on The Big
Debate ranging from Floyd Shivambu (EFF deputy president) and Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi
(ANN7 owner) to Vytjie Mentor (former ANC chief whip) – all sitting and
debating each other passionately in the black backdrop studio interspersed with
a few banners.
“We invited the president, we invited the
Guptas, we invited Brian Molefe, so that they can also contribute to this
narrative,” said Redi Tlhabi in a refreshing frankness on the SABC airwaves.
“They didn’t take up the invitation. When
people are not here it is not because we don’t want to hear them. But for some
reason they don’t want to participate in this debate,” she said.
With the show’s bold and brazen return, the SABC
is sending a very strong signal and a significant marker that the struggling
public broadcaster is working hard on turning around the erosion the past few
years of its current affairs programming and news, and the trust in it.
The Big Debate made its debut on Saturday
evening and surprised when it started with moderator Redi Tlhabi, who recently
left her perch behind the Radio 702 microphone and said that she plans to go to
America for further academic studies.
Redi Tlhabi was one of the original moderators of
the show’s early seasons before Siki Mgabadeli and
Masechaba Lekalake took over, with nobody that ever expected her to return.
As an assertive and extremely knowledgeable
and experienced interviewer, the well-liked moderator on Saturday evening
brought her credibility and cache to bear on the show, with Redi Tlhabi who
instantly elevated the SABC’s current affairs credibility despite The Big
Debate being slotted into a doldrum timeslot on television’s least watched day
of the week.
Like democracy the first live broadcast
episode of The Big Debate was a loud, zany, almost ungovernable, glorious mess.
Sound and some other production problems
didn’t dim the cacophony of voices, all excitedly reaching for the roving mic
and speaking up with varying opinions while the positive and critical comments of
viewers scrolled by.
Some people unexpectedly got up and walked
off set despite the floor manager telling them to remain seated. Cellphones
rang. It was the most alive, unvarnished and authentic a current affairs TV viewers
have seen on the SABC in years.
Big changes
Although already done by commercial
broadcasters but with the resource scarce and cash-strapped SABC lagging behind,
The Big Debate’s latest season marks a dramatic departure from existing SABC
current affairs shows, and is a big improvement and a big step forward for SABC
public audience interaction and participation.
For the first time, The Big Debate, done from
Shine Studios in Johannesburg, is being broadcast live. It enables social media
users to interact directly with the show by sending comments and questions that
are being scrolled on screen.
With studio guests sitting in the show’s
well-known five-ringed seating pattern, The Big Debate, besides being shown on
SABC2, is also being simulcast at the same time on SABC News (DStv 404), as
well as on the SABC radio station, SAfm, unlocking bigger public broadcasting
synergy.
After the scheduled hour long episode of the show
is over, The Big Debate now also continues seamlessly for another hour as a
streaming show on YouTube with the various studio guests answering questions
and making more comments.
The show also has a call-in hotline for the
first time with viewers who can leave Whatsapp voice notes with the producers
saying they’re listening to each and every one of them.
Also back, in a sense – and helping to
elevate the SABC’s quality of broadcasting although they’re not working for the
SABC – are several SABC and SABC News veterans working behind the scenes on the
production, like Crystal Orderson for instance as one of the content producers.
The new The Big Debate season on the SABC
will cover several topics that might seem mundane or well-worn if the show were
broadcast elsewhere but that are literally breath-taking and highly notable
given that it will be on the public broadcaster.
Upcoming issues that will be tackled include topics
like radical economic transformation (“RET”) this Saturday and in 2018 even the
controversial nuclear deal.
SABC2 will broadcast a second episode of The
Big Debate this coming Saturday and then go on a production hiatus before
returning in February 2018 for the remainder of the season.
