SOS Welcomes Kick-Off of ICT Policy Review

SOS WELCOMES KICK-OFF OF ICT POLICY REVIEW

After years of lobbying for a full and purposive review of the broadcasting and related sectors , the SOS Coalition is delighted to hear that the Minister of Communications will be meeting with her newly appointed ICT Policy Review Panel on 24 and 25 January 2012.

At the onset of this review the SOS Coalition would like to strongly encourage the Minister and her Panel to ensure that the Review moves swiftly ahead and is as open, inclusive and participatory as possible. Further, the Coalition would like to ensure that the issues of broadcasting, content and local content are not side-lined in this process but are given proper priority. Finally, the Coalition would like to alert the Minster and her panel to the Coalition’s vision for innovative citizen-oriented public broadcasting in South Africa.

Here the Coalition has stressed the importance of principles such as:

– The need for cutting-edge citizen-orientated programming
– Public broadcasting that strengthens the goals of the Constitution
– That the SABC is turned into a Chapter 9 institution (such as the Public Protector) to ensure its independence from all vested interests.

We hope that this Vision document, along with the views of other civil society organizations including ordinary South African citizens will help shape a new broadcasting policy framework for South Africa leading to new strong citizen-focused ICT laws.

The SOS Coalition wishes the Minister and her Panel well in steering this momentous process and calls on all South Africans to support and participate.

The SOS Coalition represents a number of trade union federations including COSATU and FEDUSA, a number of independent unions including BEMAWU and MWASA; independent film and TV production sector organisations including the South African Screen Federation (SASFED); a host of NGOs and CBOs including the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), and a number of academics and freedom of expression activists.

For more information contact:

Kate Skinner
(082) 926 6404

OR

Sekoetlane Jacob Phamodi
(076) 084-8077

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