South African Media Landscape
South Africa is a country that has overcome an unbelievably large amount of problems that the apartheid years presented us with. However scars are still evident in many areas of the country and these problems have all but gone away, and this is evident in everything, even in broadcasting. While 89.5 percent of South African households own a radio, access to signal for radios is extremely uneven, geographically speaking, more particularly, signal in rural areas are poor (Barnett, 1999:649). Through looking at the three tiers of broadcasting and then further investigating two examples of radio stations in South Africa, it will become apparent just what these scars and differences are.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 1993’s main objective is to “establish an authority which will provide for the regulation of broadcasting to ‘promote the provision of a diverse range of sound and television services on a national, regional and local level which, when viewed collectively, cater for all languages and cultural groups and provide entertainment, education, and information’” (Barnett, 1999:651).
The three tiers of broadcasting are public service (SAfm), commercial (702), and community (Bush Radio) (African Charter on Broadcasting website). Public service broadcasting is broadcasting that is created, funded and controlled by the public. It is not owned by the state but by the public, and the content informs, educates and entertains the public (UNESCO website). Commercial broadcasting is a broadcaster which operates to generate profit, or as part of a profit entity (South African Government Services). Commercial broadcasters often have a lot of advertisements in their content (Spiritus-Temporis Website. 2005). Community broadcasting is a non-profit broadcaster which is done for a specific community, by a specific community, and the content is about issues that are about that specific community (African Charter on Broadcasting website).
Bush Radio is an example of a community radio station, and SAfm of a public service broadcaster, looking more in depth at these two examples, one can further understand what each tier of broadcasting is.
Bush Radio is the oldest community radio station in the country and was founded in the late 1980s (bushradio.wordpress.com). They were known as CASET (Cassette Education Trust) because when they started they would record information onto cassettes and then distribute them in the townships and around Cape Town (Bush radio website). Despite being continually denied by the apartheid government the radio station did not give up applying for one. In the meantime, however, they broadcast illegally (bushradio.wordpress.com). In 1992 the station became known as Bush Radio, and was named so because of the dense bush that surrounded the University of the Western Cape, the location of the Bush Radio Studios. In 1994 Bush Radio was issued their first temporary licence, and in 2002 they were issued the first of their four-year licences, which have been updated every four years since (bushradio.wordpress.com).
Bush radio’s main objective is to educate and inform the poor (http://www.bushradio.co.za/) and so the station is therefore divided into four sections: broadcasting; upliftment programmes; scholarships and training programmes; and human potential development. Bush Radio’s first funding came from a German based funding organisation, Frederich Ebert Stiftung (FES) (http://www.bushradio.co.za/). The station now receive funding from advertising, income, sponsorship of programmes, donors/ grants for upliftment projects, fundraising, training fees, and internship fees (http://bushradio.wordpress.com/about/). The Bush Radio staff membership is made up of community members, board members, a managing director, staff (as in those who are responsible for the execution of weekly programmes), trainees, and volunteers (bushradio.wordpress.com). Bush Radio has far less resources than commercial and public service broadcasters have. They rely on their own reporters, who are based in Cape Town, and anyone who send information in.
Bush radio has listenership of about 260 000 people, and their target audience is people between t he ages of six and sixty on the Cape Flats (Greater Cape Town Metropolitan area) (bushradio.wordpress.com).
SAfm is a public service broadcaster that has been running for almost 71 years (www.safm.co.za). It has its origins in 1936 when the SABC formed and began broadcasting (Fourie: 8). It was not long before the broadcasting station split into an Afrikaans programme and an English one, the English station becoming ultimately SAfm (Fourie: 9).
SAfm used to be a “full-spectrum” radio station, meaning that they would broadcast news, information, art, drama, children’s programmes, sport etc (http://www.safm.co.za/). This changed in 1995 when they became a talk radio station, which means that over four years SAfm moved away from the “full-spectrum” format of broadcasting in favour of a talk format b y cutting back the children’s programmes, music, drama etc (www.safm.co.za). In 2006, however, SAfm were told by the broadcasting governing body, ICASA, to reintroduce drama and children’s programmes, which was done (www.safm.co.za).
SAfm is broadcast for the whole country and its signal reaches approximately 95% of the country (SAfm website). The target audience is people above the age of 35 years (SAfm website). Their core listenership comes from the age bracket of 30-49 years, and has a listenership of about 519 000 (http://www.safm.co.za/). In the latest RAMs the listenership over the age of fifteen years is 592 000 (SAARF website)
SAfm is an English speaking radio station. It is a public service broadcaster, which means that it is financed and controlled by the public, and it is not commercial nor is it state owned, which means that it should be free from influence from politics and commercial pressures (portal.unesco.org).
SAfm is a part of the SABC and therefore have a wide range of resources. SABC have branches all over the country and journalists posted in most towns/cities in the country, which therefore means that SAfm have access to all of these resources. SAfm’s funding is far larger than that of say Bush Radio, they largely get funding from Advertisers, licence fees and public grants (Kupe. 2005: 4).
Legally speaking, the South African Public own SAfm (as a branch of the SABC), yet the government hold the shares to the SABC, as do, in some way the advertisers (because they dominate funding) (Kupe. 2005: 5). What this means is that this has implications on the terms of a public service broadcaster, because of the Government’s role in the SABC, many people are suspicious of biasness. A public service broadcaster is supposed to be owned by the public, not the public via the government.
To further examine the differences between SAfm and Bush Radio is to study and compare their news bulletins.
Bush Radio’s first bulletin begins with the story on the court case of the two suspects for former AWB leader Eugene Terre’blanche’s murder. Their focus is on the suspects and the crime they committed. In this bulletin Bush Radio introduces a package, which is followed by about 25 seconds of dead air. The line-up that follows the lead story is the death of Deputy Health Minister, Molefi Sefularo, followed by a story about a South African United Nations pilot who died in clashes between the Congolese military and militia, and then onto a story about Castor Semenya, who will be returning to athletics in June.
The line-up is well set up and the news order is correct in terms of news values (what people want to hear- bad news, public interest, celebrities). The technical quality of bush radio I thought was poor. I struggled to hear what the anchor was saying and had to replay the bulletin a few times, and that fact that they had 25 seconds of dead air is very poor.
The bulletin for SAfm was clearly superior to Bush Radio, on a technical basis. This is possibly because of the resources that are available to SAfm, as a result of being a part of the SABC. SAfm also lead with the court case of Eugene Terre’blanche’s accused murderers. Their angle is more political. Bush radio did not mention politics at all, aside from the fact that Terre’blanche was a part of the AWB. SAfm, however, bring in Helen Zille commenting on the murder as a result of Malema’s “shoot the boer” song. They briefly mention the charges laid against the accused, but concentrate largely on the political side of it.
Following the Terre’blanche story is DA leader Helen Zille saying that Malema’s singing of “Shoot the boer” must be urgently addressed, followed by a story on how people who feel threatened may join the AWB, followed by a story on Molefe’s death. The line up follows the news values, and each story leads into the next one well. The bulletins were in English, even though Bush Radio broadcasts in English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa.
Through the individual study of SAfm and Bush Radio, it is clear that there is a huge difference between the two, quality wise and resource wise. This is to be expected considering that they are catering for different audiences. Considering their histories, it can be said that their differences are as a result of apartheid- SAfm having been under the apartheid government’s nurturing wing for many years, and Bush Radio only receiving their first licence 1992. Yet apartheid cannot solely be responsible for the differences, as these two radio stations are in different tiers, and so cater for different audiences and have different characteristics.
