Hlaudi Motsoeneng, COO of the SABC (the state owned public broadcaster for South Africa), proposed this past week that journalists be licensed in order to practice their profession, and if they acted unprofessionally, their license should be revoked.
"You know, when you are a journalist, you are a professional journalist. If you don’t have ethics and principles and you mislead on your reporting, like lawyers . . . if you commit any mistake they take your licence," he was quoted as saying by the SABC.
This sort of thinking is the kind control of freedom of the press and speech that is reminiscent of a dictatorship.
This comes in the wake of his attempt to prescribe SABC journalists to broadcast 70 percent “good news” and only 30 percent “negative news.”
A report by the Sowetan newspaper depicts Motsoeneng at a gathering in the Limpopo province receiving gifts from traditional Venda chiefs for “his understanding and commitment to the strategic objectives of the SABC.”
The gifts included a cow, a calf, and his pick of a wife from a line of about 10 bare-breasted women. The commission for gender equality is currently investigating this matter.
Further acts that question his integrity include a 60 percent salary increase after one year and a report by the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela which found Motsoeneng's appointment to be irregular.
The greater concern is the inaction of the SABC to expel this sort of behavior from the very organization that promotes gender equality and broadcast that contributes to the democracy as stated in the Broadcasting Act.
Matthew Klynsmith earned a business administration diploma at CTI in Cape Town, South Africa. He now works at Strategic Options as an associate partner. To read more reports from Matthew Klynsmith, Go Here Now.
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