The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) has called for proactive regulations to deal with matters of platform accountability, competition and cases of acquisitions in the media sector.
Citing the Multichoice and Canal+ acquisition, MDDA Acting Executive Manager, Lethabo Dibetso, said the acquisition poses a threat to the sustainability of the community media sector due to the Universal Service Fund (USAF) levy paid by Multichoice.
According to media reports, the French media giant has bought shares at the JSE [Johannesburg Stock Exchange]-listed broadcaster.
The MDDA currently receives a majority of its funds from broadcast funders through USAF levies, government grants and interest on investments.
Dibetso explained that Multichoice is one of the biggest contributors to the USAF levy.
"Should the levy fall through, it will be interesting to see if Multichoice will still be a contributor to the USAF levy and what that means for the sustainability of the community media sector," Dibetso said on Thursday during a panel discussion on media freedom.
The discussion was hosted by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) during the 2024 Media Freedom Festival under the theme: "Media for Democracy: Ensuring Access, Accountability and Integrity in Journalism".
USAF was established under the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) to fund projects and programmes that strive to achieve universal service and access to information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by all South African citizens.
With the MDDA being in business for about 20 years, Dibetso recognised the continuous support the agency has received from commercial broadcasters through the use of the USAF levy.
"If it wasn't for that continuous support, the community sector would be non-existent. In the past 20 years, we have supported the community media sector with non-financial support of more than R20 million; with financial support [of] R600 million, and we have created direct and indirect jobs through supporting the community media sector.
"We have also assisted with governance training. Governance is critical for the community media sector, and it enables communities to have alternative media platforms," he said.
Dibetso said there are a lot of community media organisations that have come up with innovative ways to sustain themselves outside of the government grant.
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"The economic challenges that the media sector is facing, particularly the print sector, has direct implications for the sustainability of the MDDA and community media.
"The shrinking advertising spend means that a majority of community organisations do not have access to advertising funding.
"The competition by the digital platforms is also taking away from the community media sector, which means that as an organisation we need to knock on different doors to sustain the sector," Dibetso said.
Ensuring media freedom
He expressed concerns about the lack of mechanisms to protect women working in the media sector.
"We have seen an increase in cyber misogyny in the media. There is an increased attack on women journalists, which poses a challenge for us," Dibetso said.
Head of Programmes at the MMA, Thandi Smith, echoed Dibetso's sentiments that there ought to be reforms aimed at protecting journalists and media freedom.
"Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in cases against public participation. We have seen prominent cases where these mechanisms are used to silence journalists and clamp down on media freedom," Smith said.
She said over the last 30 years, the media sector has scored big wins with upholding media principles in policy and litigation areas.
"We have seen how the judiciary has played their part in promoting and upholding media freedom. We saw changes with how media had to apply for permission to cover criminal cases from the presiding judge. That has now changed. The default now is to have open access, unless otherwise stated that it needs to be closed," she said.
