Antonio Lee replaces Mark Rosin as eMedia Investments COO.

Antonio Lee has replaced Mark Rosin as the chief operating officer (COO) of eMedia Investments.

It's not yet known when Antonio Lee took over as new COO. TVwithThinus reported at the beginning of April 2019 that Mark Rosin has resigned as COO and was stepping down at the end of April 2019.

eMedia Investments with Khalik Sheriff as CEO is the owner of the commercial free-to-air TV channel e.tv, the TV news channel eNCA supplied to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service, and the Openview free-to-air satellite service.

In April regarding a COO replacement eMedia Investments told TVwithThinus that "an announcement regarding the COO position will be made in due course". eMedia Investments failed to do so.

Antonio Lee was previously the chief financial officer (CFO) at eMedia Investments since December 2014.

e.tv was asked in a media enquiry when Antonio Lee took up the COO position. There's not been a response by the time of publication of this article on Thursday but the information will be included once received from e.tv.

BREAKING. Mark Rosin out as eMedia Investments COO after 5 years, no replacement yet.

eMedia Investments late on Tuesday afternoon confirmed to TVwithThinus in a media enquiry that Mark Rosin, chief operating officer (COO) at eMedia Investments has resigned. No replacement has been named.

Sources told TVwithThinus on Tuesday that Mark Rosin resigned and is leaving his post at the company housing South Africa's free-to-air commercial TV channel e.tv, the TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, and its free-to-air satellite service Openview. 

Mark Rosin's exit comes 5 months after Andre van der Veen resigned and left as eMedia Holdings CEO at the end of November 2018.

In response to a media enquiry eMedia Investments says "Mark Rosin will step down at the end of April 2019, after 8 years in the eMedia group, first as e.tv's lawyer, then in-house business affairs and legal executive, before becoming the COO in 2014.

eMedia Investments says an announcement regarding the COO position will be made in due course".

"Mark leaves the organisation having worked with different CEO's and liaising directly with the board and shareholders, while managing operations within the group".

Khalik Sheriff, eMedia Investments CEO, says "We are going to miss his energy, warmth and capacity to stay calm under pressure. However, Mark will not be lost to the group. He will continue to provide consulting services to us, whether as a lawyer or media consultant".

The sun is setting on e.tv's morning show, Sunrise, in e.tv's latest downsizing; tears as fear and anxiety grip staffers who got told that they're facing retrenchment.

The sun is setting on e.tv's Sunrise breakfast show with e.tv that is planning on canning the existing version of the long running show and all its staffers at the end of March, with shocked workers who have been served retrenchment notices and are likely getting fired.

Sunrise has been on-air since 1 April 2008 when it replaced Morning Edition, and which in turn replaced e.tv's first try at breakfast television, The Toasty Show.

Now Sunrise - that over the past few years with limited resources struggled to complete with SABC2's Morning Live and SABC3's Expresso - is the next e.tv programming strand that has been earmarked for cost-cutting and shuttering in e.tv's ongoing trend of "downsizing" of news and current affairs programming.

e.tv is apparently now looking to outsource its morning show to an outside production company.

e.tv and eNCA cut and shuttered its Cape Town newsroom staff and studio in August 2016, following after large eNews and eNCA staff and programming cuts that took place in April 2015.

Adding irony is that e.tv is culling Sunrise a day before its 10th birthday with the show that has also cycled through several executive producers the past few years - with at least one in recent years who was asked to leave immediately.

Also ironic in e.tv wanting to outsource its morning show is that it wants to do the opposite of what the SABC tried and already discovered years ago wasn't working. The SABC outsourced it's morning show, AM2Day that was produced by Urban Brew Studios, before cancelling it and starting the existing Morning Live as an in-house production.

At eMedia Investments, e.tv and eNCA's head of current affairs, Debbie Meyers, has also recently resigned, although her resignation is not related to the downsizing of Sunrise and the shedding of staffers. e.tv's long running Club 808 has also been canned and will broadcast its final episode on 30 March with e.tv that says it won't be replacing it with a new music magazine show.

eMedia Investment staffers, beyond people directly working on Sunrise, have been left shaken and shocked over the Sunrise shutdown and outsourcing plan, not just wondering who is next, but why e.tv that's in the business of television and that has the capacity, now wants to pay external people for what can apparently be done by permanent staff in-house at the Hyde Park headquarters.

Staffers from divisions like eNCA, eNews and even the Afrikaans eNuus produced and done for kykNET (DStv 144), voiced concern the past two weeks over colleagues at Sunrise losing their jobs and it coming at the beginning of the year.

According to sources, staffers in the IT department are already serving their notice period. "IT personnel have an institutional memory on how to run the on-air system. How will outsiders do it? It opens the door for so many on-air problems," said a source.

Meanwhile full-time staffers have been served with pre-retrenchment notices, according to sources, with e.tv telling workers it's starting the process to legally retrench them. It's not clear what will be happening to Sunrise's on-air talent like Penny Lebyane, Mark Haskins and for instance news anchor Marc Chase who likely have different talent and work contracts with e.tv. Faith Mangope already left in September 2017 after four years with the show.

Meanwhile eMedia Investment staffers have been buzzing internally that even security and cleaning staff have been served notices, although this couldn't be independently confirmed.

"The whole of Sunrise got retrenchment letters, as did cleaners and security," said another concerned e.tv insider source not working for Sunrise specifically but familiar with what's happening there. "Functions will be outsourced. They've also retrenched IT. There are big job cuts going on," said this source, calling what's happening at e.tv and Sunrise with producers and staffers "devastating".

Another source said eMedia Investment staffers are "extremely stressed and shocked; there's been tears".

Sunrise is currently broadcast between 05:30 and 08:30 on e.tv as a three hour weekday strip on the schedule.

In a media enquiry e.tv was asked about the whole of Sunrise getting fired and if e.tv can say why this is being done and how many people are losing their jobs.

e.tv was asked who and how Sunrise - whether under this name or as a new show, if there is still going to be a morning-type show going forward - will be produced in future and why e.tv took the decision to no longer do Sunrise itself.

e.tv was also asked for clarity on the understanding that cleaners and security people are also being retrenched and why this is, and why IT people are being retrenched and their functions outsourced.

e.tv was also asked if it can explain the move to outsourcing and not doing news and actuality programming itself or in-house when it has permanent crew and news people, and what the rationale is for this move.

e.tv didn't want to answer any of these questions. e.tv responded with a general statement attributed to Mark Rosin, eMedia Investments's chief operating officer (COO).

"At times in the life cycle of a business, it is necessary to look at a company’s needs and requirements. eMedia Investments is currently considering its structure and making necessary changes to ensure it continues to be a profitable and strong business."

"This is an internal matter between the company and employees and we will not discuss or debate it in the media," said Mark Rosin. "eMedia Investments is committed to ensuring that employees are treated fairly and respectfully during this process, which is of course difficult for everyone."

e.tv and eNCA dumps its daily Zulu TV news bulletin, iZindaba, on OpenView HD after just three and a half years as it continues to scale back its news offering.

e.tv and eNCA's eNews division has dumped its daily Zulu TV news bulletin, Izindaba, after just three and a half years as it continues to scale back on its news offering.

The daily half hour Zulu TV news bulletin, produced under eMedia Investments' eNCA news banner was broadcast on, and done for, the e.tv packaged eKasi+ channel on Platco Digital's free-to-air satellite offering, OpenView HD (OVHD).

eNews Izindaba was however quietly cancelled at the end of March when e.tv dumped the channel and replaced it with a new channel called e.tv Extra.

The loss of the Zulu prime time news bulletin is the latest cutback in eNCA's once lofty TV news ambitions under the tenure of eMedia Investments group chief operating officer (COO) Mark Rosin, with less appetite within the e.tv structure the past two and a half years for news content and a continued bigger focus and emphasis on providing entertainment programming.

e.tv that earlier this year lost an attempt to get out broadcasting a TV news bulletin during prime time on its commercial free-to-air terrestrial e.tv channel when the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, rejected its application, made no announcement about the abrupt cancellation of its Zulu TV news bulletin.

The eNews division still continues to supply a daily Afrikaans language TV news bulletin, eNuus, during prime time to M-Net kykNET (DStv 144) channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service.

The demise of eNews Izindaba comes just three and a half years after it was launched in mid-2015 with big fanfare on eKasi+ when eNCA said its existence there will "provide viewers with more options in their own language". e.tv's however failed to get it to work with the half hour Zulu TV news bulletin that has proven to be a spectacular and expensive flop.

In March 2015 the Zulu bulletin was added to e.tv's early prime time line-up where it barely managed to pull more than 370 000 viewers and was cut just four months later and moved to eKasi+ where it managed to survive on life support until its quiet demise at the start of this month.

e.tv's axing of its half hour Zulu news bulletin on e.tv Extra leaves South African viewers once again with just one Zulu TV news bulletin done by the SABC and broadcast on the public broadcaster's SABC1 where it pulled in a large 4.3 million viewers (12.7 ARs, 38.1 share) during March.

In response to a media enquiry seeking comment about the cancellation of the prime time Zulu TV news bulletin, e.tv and eNCA says that "with the relaunch of eKasi+ as e.tv Extra and a focus on entertainment programming, eNews Izindaba stopped broadcasting at the end of March".

"With this re-focus, there is no longer a broadcast platform for eNews Izindaba. Zulu news does form part of e.tv's morning show Sunrise, broadcast weekdays from 5:30 to 8:30. The eNews division will continue to produce independent news of the highest editorial standards on eNCA, e.tv and eNCA.com".

BREAKING. Broadcasting regulator Icasa refuses e.tv's application wanting to dump doing TV news during prime time; says eNews plan is not in the public interest.

South Africa's broadcasting regulator has ordered e.tv to continue to do TV news bulletins during prime time and denied the commercial free-to-air broadcaster's application for a change to its licence conditions to dump doing TV news when most South Africans are able to watch.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Wednesday afternoon poured cold water over e.tv's plans to change its licencing conditions and worm out of doing a TV news bulletin for South African viewers, saying that e.tv not giving viewers news during prime time would not be in the public interest.

In 2016 e.tv applied to have its licensing conditions changed - specifically clause 6.2 - citing falling ratings for its TV news bulletins during prime time.

It's plunging viewership for news is something actually partially caused by the eMedia Investments broadcaster itself that has moved its prime time English TV news bulletin to several different timeslots of the past few years and experimented with different styles.

e.tv's English language TV news bulletin was once the most watched in South Africa before e.tv started tinkering and gave prime time preference with plum timeslot to its popular soaps Scandal and Rhythm City.

Mark Rosin, eMedia Investments' group chief operating officer (COO) in 2016 said for e.tv to continue doing TV news during prime time "no longer makes sense now".

Mark Rosin said that "the idea of relying on a single prime time bulletin has inevitably become antiquated and e.tv needs to be able to take this into account with regard to its overall programming scheduling".

Under Mark Rosin's tenure e.tv and eNCA has seen dramatic cutbacks the past two years in news staff, the shuttering of news bureaus, closure of its African division and a contraction of the news programming that eNews and eNCA used to offer.

The SABC that also made a submission after e.tv said it wants out of prime time news, said that if e.tv was allowed to lessen its prime time news burden, the SABC also wants a revision of its licensing requirements - basically that it then also wants a lesser responsibility to do news during prime time.


'Not in the public interest'
With visual censorship of the SABC's TV news that caused outrage and controversy in 2016 when it comes to images of destruction of public property, if e.tv were to not do news during prime time, it would have left millions of South African viewers with no access to pay-TV news channels like eNCA and ANN7 with only the SABC's TV news bulletins to rely on.

On Wednesday acting Icasa chairman Rubben Mohlaloga said that "broadcasting services in South Africa play a crucial role in deepening our democracy by, among other things, providing a platform for the expression of multiple views".

"The authority is of the view that removing the news out of the prime time slot will not be in the public interest".


e.tv: Disappointed
In a statement e.tv says its "disappointed".

e.tv says the channel "had hoped that an amendment would afford it the flexibility to move its prime time bulletin to a different timeslot, outside of the prime time window, in a bid to better cater to its viewers changing needs".

"We remain committed to providing our audience with independent news of the highest editorial standards, but we are disappointed that we have not been afforded the flexibility to do so within what we think are reasonable parameters," says Mark Rosin.


'Significant milestone'
The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party in a statement says the Icasa decision is "a significant milestone in ensuring that the 12 million South Africans who rely on prime time news broadcasts as a source of information, will continue to have access to news broadcasts at a reasonable time".

The DA's Phumzile van Damme says "e.tv has an obligation to the 79% of urban adults who tune into free-to-air newscasters as a source of information and to ensure that programming is in the interests of the citizens of our country".

"The DA hopes that this decision will also urge the SABC, who along with e.tv made a presentation to Icasa on 25 October 2016, to reconsider its ambitions to also amend their licence agreement".

e.tv and eNCA again looking to cut its Cape Town newsroom staff further; 'operational duplication' could see NewsDay, eNews Direct, Zulu news shed staff.

e.tv and its sister TV news channel eNCA on DStv is again looking to cut its Cape Town newsroom staff further.

The latest round of possible eNews staff cuts comes after eNCA's dramatic staff downsizing just a year ago in April 2015.

2016 has not been kind to South African electronic news gathering journalists.

e.tv and eNCA's plan that will likely lead to the retrenchment of Cape Town based staffers, follows after the beleaguered SABC fired 8 journalists in July and were ordered by the Labour Court to reinstate seven of them.

Meanwhile the struggling Gupta-owned news channel ANN7 on DStv continues to fire journalists - first 8 in June and then another 5 in July - for having partaken in a public protest. The journalists were ordered to disciplinary hearings with reasons like "wasting water - a precious resource".

Sources told TVwithThinus that "everybody in the Cape Town newsroom must reapply for their jobs, except journalists and cameramen".

According to sources staffers will get letters on Thursday, with a senior manager set to meet with e.tv and eNCA's Cape Town staffers on Friday.

The continued pressure to downsizing e.tv and eNCA's Cape Town eNews staff is part of a bigger trend that started and followed when Marcel Golding, the former CEO of e.tv and eNCA resigned and was jettisoned together with his wife, COO Bronwyn Keene-Young in October 2014.

Marcel Golding spearheaded and launched eNews on e.tv in January 1999 specifically headquartered from Cape Town to help bring South Africans another, more independent perspective on the news away from the SABC's Auckland Park, and then launched eNCA (then called the eNews Channel) on MultiChoice's DStv in June 2008.

With Marcel Golding gone who stood in the breach as the buffer who loved and fiercely protected his news creations, a corporate dismantling process began that's more concerned about eMedia Investment's bottom-line profits than the protection of the storied news brands, and which keeps chipping away at eNews and especially its Cape Town operations where everything started.

Earlier this year in April e.tv shocked when it announced that it will be lobbying the broadcasting regulator for permission to dump all news in prime time, saying that TV news on e.tv during prime time is not a revenue generator.

Mark Rosin, eMedia Investments' group chief operating officer (COO) went as far as saying that if e.tv is forced to broadcast news during prime time, it will cause "serious revenue challenges".

Now eMedia Investments is again looking at cutting staff in Cape Town, saying the current structure of its technical operations departments and some editorial sections of news programming broadcast from Cape Town is "complicated" and creates "operational and management difficulties as well as duplication in the business".

eMedia Investments isn't saying why the Cape Town side of its technical operations where e.tv and eNCA just recently moved into a newly constructed building costing millions, has been targeted for staff adjustments and not Johannesburg.

The programmes NewsDay on eNCA, eNews Direct on e.tv done from both Cape Town and Johannesburg and the Zulu news on e.tv all partly coordinated and broadcast from Cape Town are all impacted and will likely shed staff.

eMedia Investments says "the current function is spread across two cities and two companies; Johannesburg and Cape Town, e.tv and eNCA".

"It is critical for a restructure to happen, however no decision has been made, and will not be made without open, honest and full consultation with employees who may be impacted. e.tv and eNCA are committed to ensuring that employees are treated fairly through this difficult process".

TOLDJA! e.tv channels boss Monde Twala leaving e.tv in April after 16 years to join an multinational media company.

e.tv channels boss Monde Twala is leaving the South African free-to-air commercial broadcaster in the latest of a string of high level executive changes and will exit the company in April.

Just over a week ago TVwithThinus broke the news that Monde Twala will likely say goodbye to e.tv soon.

Monde Twala, an accomplished and well-liked TV executive was the managing director for e.tv channels division and is now leaving to join a "multinational media company".

"It basically leaves Marlon Davids in charge," said a source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Marlon Davids has been e.tv's general manager for content, strategy and planning for the past year and a half.

Monde Twala's e.tv exit is a huge blow for the broadcaster and adds to the top management changes at eMedia Investments with Patrick Conroy that is the new managing director of the OpenView HD satellite TV platform from today and prof. Anton Harber heading up eNCA (DStv 403) as editor-in-chief.

The last few years Monde Twala has been overseeing a growing slate of channels, popular local soaps and a collection of steadily expanding local programming that strongly resonates with viewers and made e.tv a strong competitor to the SABC in the local TV content space.

The experienced Monde Twala joined e.tv from the SABC and was first the executive producer for the channel's soaps Backstage and Rhythm City, its now defunct breakfast show Morning Edition and eSibobo, before becoming group head for e.tv's channels in 2009 and then getting the managing director title in 2014.

e.tv says a search for a replacement will start immediately.

"Monde's charismatic and nurturing personality along with his knowledge has played an integral role in the growth of e.tv and across the group," says Mark Rosin, eMedia Investment's group chief operating officer.

"I've spend 16 extremely happy and fulfilling years at e.tv," says Monde Twala. "I have experienced many highlights of my career here and close collaboration with many talented colleagues, production partners and stakeholders in and around the business," says Monde Twala.

e.tv taking minister of communications Faith Muthambi to court over encryption, STB control, in digital terrestrial television (DTT).

e.tv is taking South Africa's minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, to court over the looming switch to digital terrestrial  television (DTT), demanding once again that encryption be installed and made mandatory in the set-top boxes (STBs) which millions of South African TV viewers will have to buy.

The application which e.tv will make today in the High Court in Gauteng could once again delay South Africa's switch to DTT, a process known as digital migration.

The added delay at this point wouldn't make any difference however.

South Africa's controversial and long-delayed switch from analogue to digital television is years behind schedule due to government bungling and delays, multiple ministers of communications who came and went, industry infighting over everything from broadcasting standards to decoders, delays with and the multiple reissue of DTT regulations, infighting between broadcasters over encryption and access control as well as problems over everything from set-top box standards to drama around the dubious STB tender process worth billions.

South Africa's shocking and ongoing DTT drama has made it the laughing stock of the world's TV and IT industry for its inability to move forward, with the country which will miss the internationally agreed deadline to complete the switch by June this year - an international deadline from the International Telecommunications Union (ITC).

It will take South Africa at least three to five years to complete the switch once the commercial process of DTT starts, and with less than two months before the deadline to complete the switch, South Africa hasn't yet started.

It will cost South Africa billions with millions of South African TV households who will have to pay around R700 to R800 each to buy a new STB to continue to receive TV signals, a switch experts are describing as the next looming e-tolls scandal.

Only the poorest of households will be subsidised and the South African government wants to use the South African Post Office to distribute the STB.

Serious questions are being raised over the dramatic underfunding and DTT budget shortfall, with experts asking where the billions of rand will be coming for to enable to subsidising of STBs the government envisions.

With all these ongoing DTT issues swirling, e.tv, the Sabido-run free-to-air broadcaster, is still adamant that it wants the STBs to have the ability to encrypt broadcast signals and wants a control system in the boxes to be made mandatory.

e.tv considers it essential to be able to encrypt its broadcast signal "primarily because this would prevent non-compliant STBs from receiving digital broadcast signals, thereby ensuring a uniform and reliable viewing experience".

e.tv says without this, it is unlikely that e.tv in the future will be able to offer high definition (HD) TV channels.

The SABC, MultiChoice which runs DStv, M-Net and community TV stations in South Africa doesn't want it. Earlier this year Faith Muthambi said STBs won't run encrypted TV signals and that the STB control system shall be non-mandatory.

e.tv is now taking Faith Muthambi to court, and will argue that it is unlawful for Faith Muthambi to "make decisions on certain key critical technical issues that affect free-to-air broadcasters".

"The minister and cabinet have repeatedly stated that they wished to respect the right of individual broadcasters to decide for themselves whether to encrypt their signals. However the effect of the policy is precisely the opposite," says Mark Rosin, e.tv's chief operating officer (COO).

"What e.tv seeks to ensure is that the broadcasting digital migration policy does not prevent us making our own decision regarding encryption of our broadcast signal".

"In one provision the minister purports to allow broadcasters the right to make their own decisions on the question of encryption. But in another adjacent provision, the minister renders this right entirely nugatory and meaningless by stating that the 5 million government subsidised STBs shall not have the capacity to encrypt," says Mark Rosin.

"e.tv also accepts that it is important that the digital migration process begin and conclude as soon as possible so that the benefits of the digital migration process can be realised."

"For that reason e.tv contends that it is important that finality be obtained as soon as possible on the lawfulness of certain provisions and that its application must therefore be dealt with as one of urgency".

BREAKING. Sabido, e.tv admit problems with the processes of eNCA's eyebrow-raising infrastructure documentary series.

Sabido the parent company of broadcaster e.tv and the independent 24-hour TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on MultiChoice's DStv is now admitting that there were problems with the processes of, and that "lines blurred", with the South Africa infrastructure documentary series shown on eNCA earlier this year.

Although the documentary series is not an "infomercial" and the government paid for separate TV commercials on eNCA, the department of economic development has been using the documentaries as commercials, clearly being very happy and of the opinion that it reflects very well on the government's infrastructure development initiatives.

Sabido, e.tv and eNCA are mired in scandal the past two weeks, with huge brand and reputational damage which has been inflicted following a bitter management meltdown behind the scenes.

It saw both its CEO Marcel Golding and then its COO Bronwyn Keene-Young abruptly quit last week amidst shocking allegations of  government and corporate interference in the eNews and eNCA news divisions.

Emails and court documents laid bare how badly e.tv's eNews and eNCA had been allegedly compromised in terms of news integrity, credibility and brand reputation.

That happened due to alleged pressure on the broadcaster to do legitimate news coverage on the one hand, and on the other hand to do positive government news coverage as a result of corporate lobbying efforts to get the South African government to side with e.tv on the issue of set-top box (STB) control and e.tv favouring an encryption system for digital terrestrial television (DTT).

In a statement today - following an earlier statement when Sabido's chief operating officer (COO) Mark Rosin didn't answer specific questions put to Sabido over the documentary series specifically - Mark Rosin now admits that "there were problems which should have been foreseen" with the documentary series and that Sabido, e.tv and eNCA are "reviewing the process internally and what transpired".

It's now clear that the South African government did pay money to eNCA for TV adverts which ran on eNCA - commercials that ran separately from the documentary series.

What is not clear is whether the documentaries series would have been commissioned, would have been broadcast, and would have existed at all if the government didn't pay for adverts or didn't take a commercial ad campaign on eNCA.

Questions about this, specifically made to Sabido last week in a media enquiry, remain unanswered.

It creates a murky situation where, whether real or perceived, viewers and media experts no longer know for sure, in terms of the eNCA editorial content, what came first: the chicken or the egg as far as this documentary series is concerned.

Mark Rosin, in today's statement, says "lines appear to have been blurred between an undertaking to report on infrastructure development in South Africa and a commitment by [the department of] economic development to spend advertising on the channel".

"The perception that the news was paid for is deeply regrettable and we wish to assure our audiences that eNews remains an impartial and independent news outlet," says Mark Rosin.

Patrick Conroy, managing director of news at e.tv and eNCA says "the news division should have been more directly involved in the discussions at the time".

Although the government paid for commercials on eNCA - and it being unclear whether the documentary series would have made it to broadcast if the government didn't advertise on the channel as well - Patrick Conroy now says that "boundaries of editorial control were not clear" but that "at no point did our editors surrender control".

Today's statement now also signals that eNCA executives knew there were problems with the documentary series before problems with it were revealed, as collateral damage, by Marcel Golding in his court documents two weeks ago to try and prevent his suspension.

Patrick Conroy, using past tense in the today's statement says that "news management agreed afterwards that in future clearer rules and policies were needed to avoid confusion between commercial messages and editorial ones".

Patrick Conroy says that "as a result of the issues we have not entered into any similar agreements subsequently. It was open to misinterpretation and could be confused with advertorial content. Work on clearer policies and guidelines began once these issues were raised".

Patrick Conroy says: "Viewers should at all times be comforted in the knowledge of the fact that what they're watching is independently produced by our news division. Where necessary, disclosures should be included to reinforce this."


Correction 17:43 : This story was changed, amended and updated from a first posted version at 14:33 to more accurately reflect the issue. The first version of this article stated that the government paid for the documentary series on eNCA. The government paid for separate TV commercials, on the eNCA channel. - Ed.

Sabido claims eNCA positive government documentary series didn't compromise the TV news channel's integrity and credibility.

Sabido Investments, the owners of e.tv and the South African 24-hour TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403), says that a positive government documentary series broadcast earlier this year didn't compromise the TV news channel's integrity and credibility which is now sitting with a heavily tarnished reputation as a news brand.

e.tv and eNCA are mired in scandal after a bitter management meltdown which saw both its CEO Marcel Golding and then its COO Bronwyn Keene-Young abruptly quit last week claiming news interference.

The public in-fighting behind-the-scenes and shocking revelations of alleged editorial news interference through government as well as corporate executive pressure on the e.tv and eNCA news divisions has laid bare how the eNews and eNCA brands were badly compromised in what South Africans viewers thought were an independent TV news offering.

e.tv executives revealed that they came under increasing pressure to cover positive government news spin regarding infrastructure development due to and in exchange for e.tv's behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts to get the government to side with e.tv in the contentious debate over whether set-top boxes (STBs) for South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch must include an encryption system (which e.tv wants and the SABC and MultiChoice don't) or not.

Earlier this year eNCA suddenly broadcast a glowing documentary series about South Africa's infrastructure development. eNCA didn't indicate at the time to viewers whether the series was paid for in full or in part by the government. The department of economic development is however using the documentary series as commercials, calling it "PICC TV adverts".

Sabido Investments - asked whether the documentary series is an advertorial or commercials, and whether the government paid for these documentaries and funded it or whether eNCA and e.News produced these out of the broadcaster's own budget - didn't answer the specific questions, but says "government officials were not involved in determining the content of the reports" and that "the news department retained full editorial control of the series".

In a statement given to TV with Thinus instead of specific answers to a series of questions, Mark Rosin, the group chief operating officer (COO) says the series "is not documentaries as has been erroneously reported" but that it's part of a broader project to reflect on 20 years of democracy which eNCA has done throughout the year.

Mark Rosin says that "at the time it was agreed to sell advertising airtime to Brand SA, and these adverts ran independently of the news reports" and that "news management were not involved in the sale of advertising. This was done by the commercial time sales department. It was the job of the news team to produce the series only and they were instructed to report impartially".

Mark Rosin says "it is understandable and also regrettable that perceptions were created of editorial influence and control" and that "as a result of the above, Sabido will do its utmost to avoid that such perceptions are created again in the future".