(FXI/IFEX) – The following is a 30 October 2001 FXI press statement: National Assembly’s Communications Committee The Freedom of Expression Institute would like to express its discomfort over the call by the National Assemblyâs Communications Committee to bring the public broadcaster in line with the governmentâs foreign policy and the implied censorship of the coverage […]
(FXI/IFEX) – The following is a 30 October 2001 FXI press statement:
National Assembly’s Communications Committee
The Freedom of Expression Institute would like to express its discomfort over the call by the National Assemblyâs Communications Committee to bring the public broadcaster in line with the governmentâs foreign policy and the implied censorship of the coverage of “blood and violence” on television, as reported by the South African Press Association (SAPA).
The FXI supports the stimulation of debates on media ethics and other debates that relate to media freedom and access to information. However, we do not believe that the public broadcaster should be an uncritical vehicle of South Africaâs foreign policy, nor should the parliament be the judge of how much blood and violence should be seen on television news.
While national debates and concerns around these issues should be given priority, news editors should remain the ultimate judges on editorial content.
The committee is definitely right to question the coverage that American networks gave to the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in comparison to that of the attack on the Tanzanian embassy. The coverage of the September 11 attack was highly censored because though more than 6,000 people died, no one saw blood or dead bodies. Whereas, in the case of Tanzania and Kenya, American broadcasters such as CNN showed almost all the details of people trapped in the rubble. The committee is correct to imply there is a double standard.
What we need to question, however, is whether broadcasters are acting in the public interest when they use the kind of double standards employed by CNN, Sky News or BBC during the Tanzanian and September 11 attacks. Also, we must question whether or not the censorship of violent and bloody footage is in the public interest.
