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 **  *****  *****    ***           COMMUNIQUE # 4 - 33
 **  **     **      ** **            28 August 1995
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International Freedom of Expression eXchange Clearing House
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: PUBLIC BROADCASTERS WANT MORE FREEDOM

Public broadcasters in southern Africa are lobbying their
governments to loosen control so that they can improve their
programming, writes Gumisai Mutumes in the latest issue (No.
3/95) of the Media Institute of Southern Africa's (MISA) "MISA
Free Press". This was the conclusion of state broadcasters from
Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe who met at the third
general assembly of the Southern African Broadcasters Association
(SABA) in Johannesburg on 6 and 7 July. They came away from the
conference with proposals for their governments that public radio
and TV continue to be a necessity in their region. However, "the
region is in a state of transformation; peace has broken out, a
new culture of openness is emerging, and so are private
broadcasting stations. As a result, public radio and TV, which
for years have served as the mouthpieces of mostly-undemocratic
governments, have realised that unless they change, they will be
left behind," writes MISA.

The broadcasters recommended that the airwaves should no longer
be regulated by government, but by independent bodies in each
country. According to MISA, they said these bodies should seek
"to enhance the integrity and viability of public broadcasting,
ensure broadcasting services promote a national identity, culture
and character, and ensure local majority ownership of
broadcasting services." The participants support public
broadcasting in developing countries that can not afford to
effectively sustain commercial radio. They criticized commercial
stations that "set out to make as much profit as possible, but
pay little heed to the development needs of a region in which the
majority of the people live in rural areas."

However, MISA said some participants agreed that "commercial
stations should not be discriminated against in the licensing of
broadcasters." For example, the Independent Broadcasting
Authority in South Africa has not yet begun granting licenses to
commercial broadcasters, allowing the South African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) to monopolize the airwaves, with more than 25
radio stations and the only three national television stations.
Throughout southern Africa, private television and radio stations
have hit the airwaves in Namibia, Tanzania, Mozambique and
Zambia. In Botswana and Swaziland, private stations operate under
a provisional arrangement until legislation is in place. In
Zimbabwe, the state-funded public broadcasting company has been
granted sole broadcasting rights by parliament.

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The above is extracted from the IFEX "Communique".

The IFEX "Communique" is published weekly in English, French and
Spanish by the IFEX Clearing House, Toronto. The facility is
operated by the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists in
partnership with the member organizations of the International
Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX). Editor: Kristina Stockwood.

Subscriptions are available free of charge by e-mail to all AMARC
members. The views expressed in the "Communique" are the
responsibility of the sources to which they are attributed.

______________________________________________________________
   Association mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
      World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
          Asociacion mundial de radios comunitarias
3575 Blvd. St. Laurent, Suite 704     Email: amarc@web.apc.org
Montreal, Quebec                         Tel: (1-514) 982-0351
CANADA  H2X 2T7                          Fax: (1-514) 849-7129
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