M-Net's Carte Blanche is looking at pornography on Sunday evening in another extended 90 minute episode.

Carte Blanche on M-Net is looking at pornography with Sunday evening's episode of the weekly investigative magazine show that will  be extra long again.

Sunday's episode of the Combined Artistic Productions show at 19:00 on M-Net (DStv 101) will again be super-sized to 90 minutes due to the age restriction of the Sunday night movie that will start at 20:30.

In one insert, Carte Blanche will look at the impact and use of online pornography, with South Africa ranking as one of the top 20 countries in the world consuming the most pornography online. Presenter Claire Mawisa looks at why so many South Africans are online porn obsessed.

Other inserts include covering the beleaguered National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the growing outbreak of measles in South Africa, the ongoing scandals at Eskom, car spinning and a womb transplant.

Here's Sunday's line-up:

NPA

It’s been yet another bad year for the NPA. Not only have they had their offices burgled in what appears to be an inside job, but they’ve been roundly trounced for selective prosecutions. What lies behind the deafening silence of the NPA on the reinstatement of charges against the president?

Producer: Nicky Troll

Presenter: Derek Watts

Outbreak

First in Cape Town and now in Gauteng – scientists have confirmed over a hundred cases of highly contagious measles. South Africa’s voluntary childhood vaccination programme was intended to prevent the mass outbreak of disease, but these cases are an indication that the system may be flawed. Are there cracks in the country’s vaccination plans?

Producers: Anna-Maria van Niekerk and Marzanne van den Berg

Presenter: John Webb

Eskom: in recovery or death spiral?

Reports and investigations, irregular spending and auditors blowing the whistle, bonuses and scandals, a lack of corporate governance, and Junk status - you can find it all at electricity utility, Eskom. This week analysts and media are closely watching their latest financial results because what happens on Eskom's balance sheet, impacts the consumer directly. Carte Blanche asks: what does the future hold for the embattled power utility?

Producer: Joy Summers

Presenter: Bongani Bingwa

Miracle Womb Transplant

A woman has given birth to a baby from the same womb she was born from. Sound impossible? Emelie Eriksson was born without a womb and therefore unable to bear children. But following the world’s first successful womb transplant, using her own mother’s uterus, Emelie finally gave birth to a healthy boy. Carte Blanche brings you her remarkable journey to motherhood.

Producer: Journeyman

Spinning

Once deemed the domain of criminals and gangsters, car spinning has wheeled its way into local popular culture. Since being recognised as a national sport in 2014, daring women - and even children – are going behind the wheel of this traditionally male-dominated pastime. Carte Blanche asks: what’s behind this adrenaline-pumping pursuit?

Producer: Lara de Matos

Presenter: Derek Watts

Porn Stats

When it comes to viewing online porn, South Africans rank among the top 20 consumers across the world. And even more surprisingly, recent stats reveal that South African women make up the third largest female audience in the world. But what keeps us clicking for more? Carte Blanche finds out.

Producer: Sasha Schwendenwein

Presenter: Claire Mawisa

The Queen telenovela extended to 5 days per week as Mzansi Magic adds a Friday episode; Rami Chuene, Thato Molamu joining the cast.

Its proven to be true South African television royalty and from August Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) is extending its telenovela The Queen from 4 to 5 days a week, adding Fridays on the back of boffo ratings.

With the additional weekday episode the cast is expanding with Rami Chuene joining in the role of Gracious, and with Thato Molamu added in the role of up-and-coming lawyer, Bakang.

The Queen - a fascinating local telenovela produced for one of the M-Net's channels provided to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform - remains a hugely under-reported success story in South Africa's television industry, although it typifies everything that the new generation of South African television production can and should be.

The Queen - with its most watched episode in June that pulled 955 891 viewers to Mzansi Magic in its 21:00 timeslot - is the little TV locomotive that could, produced by the wife and husband team Connie and Shona Ferguson and their Ferguson Films outfit.

The Queen made its debut on Mzansi Magic at the beginning of August 2016 and the past few months production and production capacity has been ramped up to adjust for the additional weekday episode that will see the telenovela enlarge to 5 days per week from 31 July 2017.

The Queen is not just a South African TV rarity because it's done by black producers, who are married to each other, and with one of them also having a starring on-screen role (Connie plays Harriet).

It is also that the show, revolving around the fictional Khoza family, also continues to receive both critical and widespread popular acclaim. 

Usually what the TV critics like, viewers don't - and vice versa - yet The Queen has proven to be the rare TV gem everybody likes to watch.

"The Queen has become one of Mzansi Magic's most popular shows," says Reneilwe Sema, M-Net's director of local channels.

"As it stands, it broadcasts from Monday to Thursday, but its immense acclaim demands that we make it a full five-day a week show. Viewers just can't get enough of the twists and turns in the story, so we are giving them more."

The Queen has added seasoned actress Rami Chuene to the cast in the role of Gracious, with Thato Molamu added in the role of up-and-coming lawyer, Bakang. Magic Hlatshwayo returns as Kwanele's supportive dad, Alpheus.

Meanwhile viewers can't get enough of the flamboyant character Kgosi (played by Sello Maake ka-Ncube) who has created a new iconic South African TV character for the ages.


A Queen building out the TV biz
While shows like The Queen - and the process of how it is now being produced - is actually what the struggling South African public broadcaster should be doing, investing in, and nurturing in terms of exposing and training new talent in front of and behind-the-scenes - it is M-Net's Mzansi Magic that took the risk.

Being bold and spearheading the effort on this "new type" TV drama making, it is now Mzansi Magic that is getting the rewards with a show like The Queen that is produced on a much smaller budget than a mega-show like the KwaMashu set Uzalo of SABC1.

While drawing sizeable audiences to Mzansi Magic - which is what ultimately matters to the bottom-line - The Queen is also working and building out South Africa's TV-industry with novel re-invention. 

The popular show is both enlarging and upskilling the local TV production industry, while at the same time training and giving new people a change to learn and get experience as they go along for the ride.

It is something that the SABC is actually supposed to be doing - like the BBC - but is something that has steadily shifted to South Africa's pay-TV sector that doesn't need to, but that has picked up a large part of the responsibility with The Queen as a great example.

The Queen also does a lot of on-location shooting - for instance filming at rented homes multi-purposed as the set instead of paying for costly studio space - and using rooms, doors and exteriors of one property for instance to cleverly create numerous in-story locations.

The telenovela also gives a lot of young, and new, people opportunities in front of, and behind, the camera to learn and get a foot in the door of the TV biz - again something more in line with the remit of a public broadcaster but something that is clearly an important and integral part of making the show for The Queen's producers.

e.tv dumps costly WWE as SuperSport decides to picks up the wrestling rights for DStv subscribers in Africa after 16 years.

e.tv has finally decided to drop the costly WWE wrestling that's been a popular staple and synonymous with the red-letter channel since its start-up almost two decades ago, with WWE that will now be moving back to DStv after 16 years with SuperSport that has decided to take over the rights from September.

South Africa's only commercial free-to-air broadcaster has had great success with, and got big ratings from, various World Wresting Entertainment (WWE) shows across its schedule for almost 20 years after branding itself "the home of WWE" in 2001.

It has however come at a price on two fronts - with e.tv that has decided to end its WWE programming strategy that increasingly became more and more expensive.

Firstly the WWE rights for shows like WWE Wrestling Raw and WWE Wrestling SmackDown have become increasingly expensive for e.tv the past few years with diminishing returns in terms of viewership.

While Raw, SmackDown and other WWE specials for over a decade and a half pulled massive audiences to e.tv, ratings for wrestling on the channel have slowly diminished since the heydey Sundays when millions of South African viewers sat transfixed.

Raw and SmackDown are both still super-shows and top 10 e.tv programming but their ratings power has steadily dimmed since the mega slamdunk days of John Cena.

Raw pulls a mighty 2.66 million viewers and SmackDown 2.05 million viewers - down from when it carried the overall e.tv ratings crown.

For parity, in June the local film Sarafina grabbed 1.97 million viewers for e.tv - almost the same number of eyeballs but for programming that e.tv pays much less for that American wrestling.

Secondly e.tv realised that the South African free-to-air audience is maturing and getting more sophisticated in terms of their viewing taste.

While WWE wrestling as a type of one-trick pony has brought and still brings the viewers to the yard, e.tv has to think of the future and diversify its programming offering if it's going to compete in South Africa's every-increasing multi-channel TV-universe.

At some point e.tv could no longer almost solely rely on WWE and its two soaps, Rhythm City and Scandal! to prop up its ratings - and that inflection point has now been reached.

e.tv wants to use the money saved from WWE to further diversity its programming line-up with hit international shows ranging from Empire, The Fixer (Scandal in the US) and How to Get Away with Murder, to local drama series.

Indicate of how e.tv wants to try and broaden its audience, is the decision to replace wrestling on Saturdays and Sundays with family movies - cheaper content as part of studio output deals, courting a broader base. Wrestling during the week will be replaced on e.tv with series like the American drama series House.


For e.tv - the chance to broaden its schedule
With e.tv dropping WWE, the wrestling as a niche sport, has now been picked up by SuperSport, reverting back to being the pay-TV offering it was before e.tv took it over from SuperSport. Now DStv subscribers who want to see WWE can see it on MultiChoice's satellite-pay TV platform.

e.tv says the decision not to renew its long-standing contract with the WWE wasn't taken lightly.

"e.tv has been the home of WWE in South Africa since 2001, but international rights contracts like this are complex. After reviewing our renewal options, we decided to focus instead on the direction our entertainment line-up has been taking over the last 12 months," says Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director.

While e.tv has seen huge ratings thanks to wrestling, the channel now wants its viewership growth to come from a broader offering and more programming genres.

"We're thrilled with the way our viewership numbers have grown, thanks to the local and international drama, comedy and reality shows which have found a home on the e-family of channels," says Marlon Davids.

"As sad as we are to see WWE leave its home in South Africa, we're confident that our audience will keep embracing the channel's new direction and continue to be entertained by the fresh and engaging content which e.tv and the e-family of channels currently hosts - and has plans to expand in the future."


Wrestling live in SuperSport with same-day re-airs
With e.tv opting not to exercise its right to continue, SuperSport got the opportunity to take it over with the pay-TV sports unit signing a multi-year agreement to move WWE programming from e.tv to MultiChoice's DStv in 50 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

From Monday 28 August SuperSport will now show Raw and SmackDown, as well as the WWE specials, WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

Raw will be broadcast on the SuperSport 3, SuperSport 4, SuperSport 9 and SuperSport 10 channels on Tuesdays, with SmackDown on Wednesdays on the same channels. Both will be shown live with same-day re-airs.

All wrestling specials like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, the Survivor Series and Royal Rumble will also be shown on these channels, also live, with same-day re-airs, available with English commentary and on demand.

"WWE is a global phenomenon, so securing the broadcast rights for SuperSport is a terrific coup," says Gideon Khobane, SuperSport CEO.

"At long last our viewers will get to share in this entertainment spectacle in high definition," says Gideon Khobane, although e.tv has been showing WWE in high definition already on DStv and on Platco Digital's OpenView HD (OVHD) platform.

"Televising WWE programming live in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time is an important milestone for us, and we look forward to working with SuperSport to cultivate new fans in the region," says Ed Wells, WWE executive vice president, international.

Music biz set soap Rhythm City from Quizzical Pictures on e.tv celebrates a decade on South African TV; promises 'more gripping storylines'.

Rhythm City on e.tv is celebrating a decade on the air since the weekday soap set inside South Africa's music business started on the red letter channel on 9 July 2007, promising "more gripping storylines".

With some of the soap's original cast like Jamie Bartlett, Sethabi Taunyane, Mduduzi Mabaso, Mpho Molepo and Tebogo Khalo still seen in the popular local weekday drama, the actors and crew last week celebrated the 10th birthday with a lavish Johannesburg birthday bash.

In June 2007 e.tv cancelled the low-rated youth soap Backstage that failed to lure viewers, but to the channel's credit, e.tv believed that the channel must have a local weekday soap and gave it another try with Rhythm City, produced by Quizzical Pictures (formerly Curious Pictures).

The soap, its characters and its intrigue - set against the backdrop of the fast-paced South African music industry with drama taking viewers from the streets and clubs of Soweto to the recording studios and radio stations of Johannesburg - instantly found bigger appeal under e.tv viewers.

Moved from 18:30 to the 19:00 timeslot in January 2015 opposite SABC3's Isidingo that remains in a ratings struggle, e.tv's Rhythm City now commands a sizeable audience of 3.5 million viewers. It perennially remains the second most watched show on e.tv just behind e.tv's other soap, Scandal, as a lucrative half hour of prime time programming for the channel.

"Rhythm City is one of e.tv's flagship shows, drawing audiences to the channel who are looking for their dose of daily drama," says Marlon Davids, e.tv's managing director. "We are delighted with the way both the show and e.tv have evolved over the past 10 years and look forward to reaching more milestones together".

"When we started working on Rhythm City, we didn't think that we would still be going this strong 10 years later," says Harriet Gavshon, Rhythm City executive producer at Quizzical Pictures. "Creating gripping storylines for a daily soapie is challenging, but it's a challenge that we take on with gusto."

Besides stories revolving around the struggles as well as the glamour and excess of the local music biz, Rhythm City touched several sensitive and controversial subjects besides the backstabbing and in-fighting that characterises the serialised nature of a soap, ranging from abortion, homosexuality, rape, HIV/Aids and drug addiction to violence against women.

Some of it did land Rhythm City and e.tv in hot water, like last year when the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) found the soap "shockingly inapprioriate" with woman abuse and a strangulation scene without warning in a timeslot too early for the visuals.

Over the years Rhythm City incorporated several real-life celebrities and musicians into its fictional universe, ranging from Kelly Khumalo, Khuli Chana, HHP, Khanyi Mbau, Kwesta, Slikour and Freshlyground to DJ Cleo.

In the past decade Rhythm City has seen its series of cast exists like Pam Andrews leaving after 7 years, backstage unhappiness,  a new opening sequence and look since October 2014, firings like Kelly Khumalo in 2009 over diva behaviour and other, more brutal firings like Connie Chiume  - even a real-life studio lot fire at Sasani Studios in 2014 that temporarily shut down production.

Watch the first episode of Rhythm City on e.tv here:




Editor's note: 
I'm one of the very few journalists and TV critics in South Africa - literally 4 at most - who was there then when e.tv still showed Ricki Lake and who covered Rhythm City when it started a decade ago, covered it ever since, and who are still around 10 years later to report on it.

It feels disappointing and distasteful that e.tv and Quizzical Pictures couldn't bother to invite, or even just tell, the few longest time media about Rhythm City's 10th birthday celebration at the soap's set on Wednesday.

So, sorry about it but not being able to hear what e.tv execs and the show's producers and cast have to say unfortunately means I can't cover more of the soap's milestone and report who said what.

Who knows where the world will be in another 10 years? I don't know.

What I do know is this: If Rhythm City happens to still be on the air on e.tv by 2027, irrespective of how it looks and who happens to be in it and making it behind-the-scenes, I and some of the few other stalwarts will still be around to report on it, to cover all the news about it, and to chronicle every aspects around its place in and on South African television.

Congratulations to e.tv and Quizzical Pictures on the Rhythm City 10 year TV milestone.

SABC worlds apart after shocking and confusing viewers as SABC3 only shows the first half hour of new Survivor season.

The SABC is once again silent after yet another disastrous and botched start to a new season of Survivor after SABC3 on Tuesday night shocked and perplexed viewers when the channel kicked off the 30th season, subtitled Worlds Apart, by only showing the first half hour and then cutting to commercials and filler.

On the SABC3 schedule, Survivor Worlds Apart was supposed to run until 20:20 but only half an hour ended up being broadcast.

The SABC offered up no explanation to viewers about why it only showed the first half of the first episode of Survivor Worlds Apart - the first time that ever happened - with no on-screen advisory or apology on SABC3.

The struggling SABC3 is a TV channel that remains in an ongoing ratings freefall with programming mistakes like Tuesday aggravating and chasing away more viewers.

SABC3's Survivor Worlds Apart blunder comes just three months after the SABC's only commercial TV channel also botched the beginning of the previous season's start, when Survivor San Juan Del Sur, set for 5 April, was suddenly a no-show and caused the channel's entire primetime schedule to collapse in unplanned chaos due to an unexplained technical problems.

The SABC was asked what steps, if any, the public broadcaster took with specifically Survivor to prevent a repeat occurence of possible problems with the show - distributed by CBS Studios International - but didn't respond to a media enquiry.

Besides embarrassment and confused viewers, SABC3's Survivor Worlds Apart bungle will also end up costing the SABC money and lost revenue yet again for one of the SABC's last remaining premium international TV series on its programming grid.

The SABC will have to pay back all of the money to commercial advertisers who booked spots during the second half hour of the unaired show when commercials were not shown in the programming advertisers bought airtime for to reach the specific demos Survivor attract to SABC3.

It's not clear what led to SABC3's cut short Survivor Worlds Apart on Tuesday night.

On social media the SABC failed to interact with viewers wondering what's going on.

On Wednesday morning SABC3 on Twitter said that Survivor Worlds Apart will continue next week  "for the usual full hour" as "episode 1 continues".

The bulk of viewers who tuned in on Tuesday night won't know that and it remains to be seen how exactly SABC3 wants to broadcast the next chunk of the show without any lead-in, cold open or proper context.

Zandile Nkonyeni, head publicist for SABC TV channels, didn't respond to a media enquiry made Tuesday night about Survivor, asking what happened, why the SABC didn't communicate on-screen with viewers, and why only half an hour was shown of what is supposed to be a longer episode.

On Twitter on Tuesday night, a viewer expected something to go wrong, with one noting before the episode started that "It might happen that SABC3 can't find the Survivor tape like last time with the last season".

It might happen that @SABC3 can't find the survivor tape like last time with the last season

— I AM JEFFREY 👑🔮👑 (@jeffdaddy_mb) July 18, 2017

After SABC3's abrupt half hour Survivor cut, confused and angry viewers were quick to comment.

"BrigM said "SABC3 only 30 minutes Survivor and then rubbish to fill time? Seriously? The stage is not yours", with Tallic saying "Another Survivor cut and paste debut SABC3 what an upset". "What just happened to survivor cause the last time I checked its an hour show," asked Papirazzi.

Colleen Ranck wondered "where is the rest of Survivor? Since when is it only 30 minutes?" "Went off to make a cuppa, tuned in and just like that - poof - Survivor ended," remarked Debra Schonknecht.

@SABC3 only 30 minute survivor and then rubbish to fill time? Seriously? The stage is not yours

— BrigM (@BrigMinne) July 18, 2017

another survivor cut & paste debut @SABC3 wt an upset😞

— TALLIC. (@Tallic_SA) July 18, 2017

What just happened to #Survivor cause last time i checked its an hour show 😭 @SABC3

— #FillUpParkingLot3 (@Papirazzi_) July 18, 2017

@SABC3 WHERE IS THE REST OF SURVIVOR???? SINCE WHEN IS IT ONLY 30 MINUTES WFT

— Colleen Ranck (@RanckColleen) July 18, 2017

very confused with the first airing of the new survivor series it ended abruptly.

— Ronwyn G (@GautengWizard) July 18, 2017

Went off to make a cuppa, tuned in and just like that...*poof* survivor ended lol

— Debrà Schonknecht (@dsch61) July 18, 2017

SHOCKER: Almost a THIRD of the SABC's outside broadcast trucks are not usable - need to be upgraded but out-of-cash broadcaster isn't able to.

Shockingly, almost a third of the cash-strapped and beleaguered SABC's outside broadcast trucks - called "OB vans" in the TV biz - are not usable, the public broadcaster has revealed.

"There are crucial issues about people who are producing content for us, sport broadcasts that we are mandated to carry by the Broadcasting Act which we are scaling down because we don't have the money," Mathatha Tsedu, deputy chairperson of the SABC interim board said in an interview.

Mathatha Tsedu revealed in an interview on SABC2's Morning Live that "our OB trucks, almost a third of them are not usable. We need to upgrade them; we can't do that."

"So the board has taken a decision that we're only going to do those things that are necessary for us to do."

Six years after rife mismanagement, corruption and mismanagement brought the SABC to the brink of financial collapse in 2009 that saw the SABC thrown a R1.47 billion bailout lifeline from the government with stringent rules attached - 6 of which the SABC failed to adhere to - the financially under water SABC is once again in dire need of yet another government bailout. 

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo continues to refuse to tell the South African public what the mega-amount bailout is that the South African public broadcaster has requested from Treasury this time to keep the struggling South African public broadcaster afloat that is falling further and further into the red.

After shocking mismanagement and maladministration, the SABC is in dire need of a cash splash in order to pay millions of rand in arrears and back payments due to a range of creditors from content producers and the signal distributor Sentech to others.

"There are appointments, there are unprocedural bonuses that people were paid - some in millions, some in thousands - there are a whole host of irregular things that contributed to the R5.1 billion over five years of irregular expenditure," said Mathatha Tsedu.

"A whole host of production companies that keeps shows going, that give us content, we haven't even been able to pay them because there isn't money. Every month it's really a process of negotiating with this producer and giving them half and see whether mid-month you're going to give them the balance."

"There's just so much money that is owed to people who have already done work for the SABC - work for which they should have been paid by now which we haven't been able to do because there is no money," said Mathata Tsedu.

SABC MultiChoice channels deal an 'onion'

Regarding the highly controversial SABC MultiChoice deal, Mathatha Tsedu said "it's an onion that will have to be peeled one layer at a time".

In the controversial deal, the SABC supplies the SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) channels to MultiChoice DStv satellite pay-TV platform. 

It saw the now-fired controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng pocket a R11.4 million bonus just for signing the contract. 

Questions have also been raised about how the controversial deal links with South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration and the issue of set-top box (STB) control, as well as who is in control of the SABC archives. The SABC told parliament that MultiChoice's doesn't control its archive, but said that it is sending "a tape a day" to MultiChoice.

"We are keen as the SABC interim board to see SABC News as a TV news channel continuing, to see SABC Encore continuing."

"Insofar as we are concerned, we would want these SABC channels to continue."

Some SABC stations badly affected by 80% local quota

On Hlaudi Motsoeneng's unilateral and destructive "90% local content" for SABC radio and "80% local content" for SABC3 introduced in mid-2016, Mathatha Tsedu said "the issue has never been about whether it is good or bad to have more local content."

"It is the manner in which the decision was implemented across all platforms without consideration on how it was affecting some platforms.And it's not all platforms. The African language stations were not affected, they were already playing in that zone."

"But stations like Metro FM on some days - especially Sundays - were heavily affected. 5FM, Good Hope FM, Lotus FM - they were badly affected," said Mathatha Tsedu.

He said SABC platforms badly affected by the decision have been given the right to "correct the process that has been bleeding them".

"SABC stations have lost audiences and as a result they have lost revenue. That is an undeniable fact."

"Similarly with television. SABC1 is okay. SABC2 is not badly affected but SABC3 is."

SABC TV licence fees dip because of bad news

While the SABC on basically a daily basis remains in the news headlines for the wrong reasons, Mathatha Tsedu said "every time there is a cycle of bad news around the SABC, the revenues from the SABC TV licences dip."

"How do you get credibility back into the products that the SABC produces? The credibility of the SABC is not just judged by how Muvhango's story line is going or how 7de Laan's story line is going. The major credibility point of the SABC is its news output."

"The editorial code is now going out for public comment," he said, noting that the SABC is starting a series of workshops for SABC journalists to re-educate themselves on how news at a proper public broadcaster should be done.

The series of workshops will involve all the journalists of the SABC from across South Africa. "We're bringing in experts from different broadcast houses - including the BBC and other journalists - to just start talking about what is it that a public broadcast journalist should be doing and not doing."

"SABC journalists should now feel free to do the things that they have been trained to do and ignore all the things that are not journalistically defensible that they have been told to do."

"If anybody pushes anything on any SABC journalist that is unethical, the SABC board is there as a sounding board, they can come to the board and say 'I'm being forced to do something that is unethical', and we will deal with whoever that person is," said Mathatha Tsedu.

Broadcasting Complaints Commission fines negligent ANN7 R10 000 over wrong reporting; ANN7 said it notices 'unfortunate attempts to drag ANN7 into politics'.

The Broadcasting Complaint Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has fined the Gupta-owned channel ANN7 (DStv 405) carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform R10 000 for a repeated offence of the same wrong reporting - something ANN7 wanted to first blame on a video editor, and then on the news anchor not reading correctly and who ANN7 said it gave a warning letter.

The BCCSA got another complaint regarding distorted news that was broadcast on ANN7 on DStv on 4 June - following the exact same complaint about wrong reporting that ANN7 did in March and in April - apologised for in May - and then repeated yet again in June.

On 4 June an ANN7 news anchor told DStv subscribers that the former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille "had said that colonialism was not at all bad".

Helen Zille however never used the "at" word ever. Even without that word inserted by ANN7, her utterances around colonialism caused a firestorm and ignited big public debate in South Africa.

ANN7's continued wrong reporting however further inflamed the news story.

Very shockingly, this was a mistake that ANN7 already had to apologise for a month earlier, on 5 May, after running the wrong mistake and repeating it multiple times over many days in March and in April, before eventually correcting it after a complaint to the BCCSA.

Yet in June the channel from Infinity Media again did the same erroneous reporting and again told DStv subscribers that Helen Zille said "colonialism was not at all bad". The second time ANN7 blamed the news reader.

After having first blamed a video editor earlier in the year, ANN7 told the BCCSA that it's now blaming the news anchor.

Although it was a multiple repeat of the same mistake and wrong reporting that surfaced yet again, ANN7 said "it was a rare error by an anchor who has been served with a warning notice" and that ANN7 "offers to run an apology on the ticker scroll".

ANN7 that belongs to the highly controversial Gupta family, told the BCCSA that "it is impossible to not notice unfortunate attempts to drag ANN7 into politics due to its ownership."

Weirdly, and not making any sense, ANN7 told the BCCSA that it "has faith that the institutions tasked with safeguarding the democratic structures and values will not allow vested campaigns to muffle an important opinion voiced by ANN7."

The BCCSA in its judgement slammed ANN7, saying that "in the present volatile political situation in the country and in light of the previous contraventions regarding this controversial news story, one would expect ANN7 to be extremely cautious in follow-up broadcasts".

The BCCSA in its judgment found that ANN7 was negligent in briefing the news anchor that ANN7 decided to blame for the channel's shoddy and wrong reporting.

The BCCSA castigated ANN7, finding that ANN7 "ignored the BCCSA's requests (9 and 13 June) that it should confirm that a verbal apology would be broadcast".

"Since the BCCSA was not notified about the apology, it could not be approved and the complainant could not be informed".

"This is a second complaint about the same issue and this time it could not be blamed on system error - the ANN7 news editor should have noticed."

The BCCSA ordered ANN7 to "repeat the apology and the Registrar informed at least 48 hours before it is broadcast so that the relevant parties may be informed".

ANN7 was also slapped with a R10 000 fine for the repeated wrong reporting.

The SABC's PR tsar Kaizer Kganyago demands a 'full apology' from The Star - and the newspaper actually prints the tacky demand.

The SABC's PR tsar Kaizer Kganyago demands a full apology from The Star newspaper in a way that further illustrates just how far the SABC's relationship with other media has deteriorated and that also sheds more light on how bad the South African public broadcaster's actual public relations with the press has become.

The SABC's Kaizer Kganyago says the public broadcaster demands a full apology from Independent Media's The Star for a story about the SABC.

The SABC "demands" its apology in these following words - something that that The Star actually printed: "The SABC would like to have a full apology published in your newspaper today, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago".

Of course there hasn't been any full apology from The Star to the SABC and I won't be surprised if there won't be.

Proper media and especially newspapers don't respond kindly to these types of "notices" for lack of a better word.

The SABC Kaizer Kganyago is making the demand saying "the SABC noted with concern the gross misrepresentation in the article, 'Zuma delays SABC probe' (10 July, The Star)."

"This article carried a subtitle which states that the 'Interim board wants to SIU action to stop Hlaudi accessing millions', which is a complete distortion as the interim board has not at any point made this proclamation".

"The first paragraph of the article also indicates that the 'SABC is concerned that delays by president Jacob Zuma to sign a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) proclamation to probe the rot at the cash-strapped public broadcaster could see its former boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng cashing in on his pension millions".

"It must be noted that this is also incorrect as the SABC has not made such utterances; your article should properly indicate the sources of this information and not be written as if the SABC has said so."

"We therefore request your publication to rectify these negative implications as they have a great potential in damaging the reputation of the SABC's interim board, the SABC brand and they will also confuse the public."

Now, it's quite ugly to see how the SABC sent something like that to a newspaper and in my opinion it's indicative of how the SABC's media relationships with the press have soured and continues to erode instead of improving.

Why is the SABC and Kaizer Kganyago sending something like this to The Star? Why is this handled publicly and why did Kaizer Kganyago not go to The Star editor's office personally to go and have a private conversation? Too many Muvhango episodes to catch on now that the SABC is rerunning 20-year old episodes on SABC2 in primetime as well?

Has the SABC's Kaizer Kganyago even met Kevin Ritchie as editor of The Star? Has he sat down with The Star's news editor Mojalefa Mashego? Did he first go and have a one-on-one meeting with the news editor to explain the situation, taken anyone for coffee?

I would guess not. Yet, that is what publicists and spokespeople worth their salt do, instead of ignoring and not responding to media enquiries and sending notices like this to newspapers.

Good and effective public relation practitioners build relationships and engage media, tirelessly work on fostering rapport and building working relationships instead of antagonising the media and journalists.

By being nice, responsive, properly responding to media enquiries, sending out press releases timeously and to the right people, help to get your real, correct message across - something that the beleaguered SABC's spokespeople and PRs for a long time seem to not understand.

In fact, it seems as if they're deliberately doing the opposite of what would help to build and restore the SABC's tattered brand image.

It doesn't even seem as if media and journalists want to go and attend SABC media briefings anymore - something that's perhaps (and there's other reasons as well) partially due to the fact of how bad the SABC has run press conferences over the past year and a half.

Interestingly to note is that The Times followed up on the SIU story with Khanyisile Kweyama, who as the interim SABC chairperson - and directly representing the public broadcaster, told The Times that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's case has been handed over to the SIU to "fast-track the investigation so that we can lay criminal charges and recover payments if the end of the investigation is that there are recoveries to be made."

It feels and seems so odd and awkward for the SABC's Kaizer Kganyago to chime in with the demand for an apology from The Star when SABC interim board members are other SABC insiders are constantly talking about the SIU, its pending investigation, the R11.4 million that was paid to Hlaudi Motsoeneng as part of the extremely controversial SABC MultiChoice channels deal for DStv, the shocking R9 million payouts to certain artists and the disastrous Thank You SABC Concert.

There is one point in the demand to The Star where Kaizer Kganyago is absolute correct.

Public perception matters. It matters a huge deal. But part of managing public perception is of managing it - and doing so properly. You can't do nothing, or take actions that creates the opposite perceptions, and expect things to work out if you don't  know how the media works, or work with them.

The SABC's Kaizer Kganyago should perhaps go to the closest Auckland Park library and use his library card for Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People and read that.

For to demand a "full apology" in the crass and trashy way it comes across and that it was just done with The Star, in my opinion, only ends up with someone losing friends and alienate the media further.

The SABC is a public broadcaster - its essence, supposedly, communication.

The people who speak for it, and how they say it, can - and should - be so much better.

Radio 702 talk show and presenter Eusebius McKaiser created hostile environment, showed intolerance, Broadcasting Complaints Commission finds.

702 has breached the Broadcasting Code with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) finding that the talk radio station breached the Broadcasting Code after a talk show presenter created a hostile environment, showed intolerance against opposing views and exhibited a lack of respect towards callers and other views.

702, owned by Primedia Broadcasting, wasn't fined but got reprimanded by the BCCSA following listener complaints, after a morning show on 7 May 2017 with presenter Eusebius McKaiser.

Listeners submitted complaints to the BCCSA regarding Eusebius McKaiser's apparent "censorship" and told the BCCSA that despite the presenter's "vitriolic attack" on former South African president FW de Klerk they would have liked to hear what the De Klerk Foundation would have said it the representative wasn't cut off.

"Many people would have liked to hear what the chair of the De Klerk foundation has to say about this sensitive subject but Eusebius McKaiser's censorship will only allow selected comments to go on air.

“I feel that this kind of conduct is upsetting to a lot of people and also agitating in an already volatile social climate. Eusebius McKaiser’s conduct does not help the people of South Africa to understand the importance of open, honest dialogue as an important tool to solve problems. He causes tension between races and people with different background,” one of the complainants, Thomas Mihal told the BCCSA.

Dave Steward, chairman of The FW de Klerk Foundation, who was heard on the day's phone-in show, was one of the other complainants, and said he was "shouted down and ultimately cut off by Eusebius McKaiser".

702's topic revolved around the inclusion of the former apartheid president FW de Klerk's inclusion in a forum of former presidents aiming at promoting a dialogue around issues facing the country, and whether it was appropriate for an apartheid president to be included in the initiative known as the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI). 

Eusebius McKaiser cut the representative off who was on the line.

702 told the BCCSA that it disputes the allegations that the talk show was a "vitriolic attack on FW de Klerk", saying the show's intention was not to criticise FW de Klerk. 702 told the BCCSA that former president Thabo Mbeki and current president Jacob Zuma were both also criticised in the programme.

The BCCSA in its judgement found that Eusebius McKaiser "didn't make reasonable efforts to fairly present opposing points of view", that there was "a hostile attitude demonstrated towards De Klerk by what both the presenter and his guests said", that the presenter didn't correct a caller using the word "criminal" and that the only caller making an effort to put up an opposing view had his call cut off.

The BCCSA found that the 702 talk show exhibited "a lack of fairness", that "the lack of respect towards callers and lack of tolerance towards views which do not correspond to those of the presenter also appear from what is said" and that "these are qualities that are expected of presenters in this type of programme".

BCCSA: '702's Eusebius not tolerant'

The BCCSA also slammed 702 for arguing that the show was not aimed at discussing FW de Klerk’s views, calling the radio station's argument "to say the least, ingenious".

"The many times that De Klerk’s name was mentioned during the programme, which lasted 80 minutes, is proof of the fact that the programme was about him and, by necessary implication, his views," the BCCSA says in its judgment.

"702 argued that it would have been irresponsible to have De Klerk on the show. We find that it was a contravention of clause 13(2) of the Code not to have him or a spokesperson of his foundation on the show."

"The first complainant, who is a spokesperson for the FW de Klerk Foundation, was not invited to appear on the talk show, and when he phoned in, he was cut off before finishing his contribution to the debate."

"It is clear to us that the intention of the presenter was to cast as bad a light as possible on De Klerk and in the process he was not tolerant towards opposing views, thereby not obtaining balance between opposing points of view".

"It is important to state that nowhere in this judgment do we say or even suggest that 702 should not have discussed De Klerk or his views. This is the content of the right to freedom of expression which the BCCSA enforces."

The BCCSA says "the presenter did not make a reasonable effort to fairly present opposing points of view. Neither did 702 allow De Klerk a right to reply, while its intention with the programme was clearly to criticise De Klerk".

702 was not ordered to broadcast a summary of the finding and the BCCSA judgement found that "the appropriate sanction in this instance will be a reprimand" for 702.