SECTOR 3 It was said that SABC staff had been asked not to continue investigating certain controversial stories which shed a negative light on the government, and even had phone calls from government agencies under former President Jacob Zuma’s regime, saying they were conveying a message from the president to cease reporting on certain sensitive issues. The MMA also had a few cases of ‘biased reporting clearly favouring the ANC’ during the 2016 local elections. The SABC Three show Real Talk with Anele was also mentioned as an example of possible interference, after it was revealed in 2018 that the Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s Anele interview cost the Social Development Department 500,000 ZAR (34,000 USD). Therefore, in this instance, the integrity of the broadcaster is in question, as money was paid to broadcast content rather than purely broadcasting in the interests of the South African public. In May 2018, the SABC launched an inquiry into issues of editorial interference, with members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) alleging the Party was a victim of marginalisation and editorial interference by the public broadcaster. Chaired by the executive director of the Press Council and Press Ombudsman Joe Thloloe, the hearings have shown, according to a panellist, ‘a fundamental lack of respect for editorial independence of the SABC’. The broadcaster was also slammed by the Democratic Alliance for being impartial and having misleadingly aired Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech on land expropriation without compensation in August 2018. The speech was given an ANC meeting, which Cyril Ramphosa addressed as president of the ANC, however when it was aired, as seemed as though it was a national message from the country’s president. ‘From the outside, there seems to be a concerted effort now, with the new dispensation [post-Hlaudi Motsoeneng] to bring in more alternative views, with top investigative journalist Stephen Grootes now being employed as a presenter on the radio station SAfm, and former SABC CEO Jimmy Matthews having previously reportedly admitted that the SABC did deliberately ban the EFF and its leader Julius Malema from the public broadcaster.’ It was also noted that the SABC’s parliamentary journalists were ‘not always allowed free reign to report’ and that the question of them needing to be ‘vetted’ should urgently be addressed. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 41 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018 ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ 3.3 (2013: 2.0; 2010: n/a; 2008: n/a; 2006: n/a)