Burn Your TV Licence, It's The Sane Thing To Do

So as it turns out, paying your TV license was maybe not the right thing to do.

A judgement in the Johannesburg High Court has found the South African Broadcasting Corporation well worthy of its moniker, SANC.

“Judge CJ Claasen found the SABC had violated its licence conditions… through its blacklisting of political commentators… and in coverage of the 2005 Zimbabwe elections.” (Cape Argus – 26/01/2011)

Under the chairmanship of Snuki Zikalala the public (state?) broadcaster manipulated SABC coverage, and then covered-up this manipulation through official on-air denials.

The reality is that we don’t need protection from the press, we need protection from Party propaganda!

These revelations beg the question; do we need a public broadcaster at all?

e-tv – a free channel supported solely through advertising revenue – provides better quality international and locally-made programming and costs us nothing.

It would be understandable if, like the BBC, there were no commercials on SABC channels, but this is not the case. You can’t watch five minutes of substandard news and talk shows without being bombarded with ads for the Floor Wiz or sanitary towels.

And looking at the quality of programmes, one has to wonder into which minister’s pocket all the money goes?

For all its whinging about “unfair reporting”, the ANC has revealed itself to be the greatest threat to Truth in South Africa. One can only imagine the lies printed in the equally aligned ruling party rag, The New Age – just another ANC wolf in Free Press clothing.

This causes even greater concern over a Media Tribunal and Protection of Information Act – they not only want to chain our tongues, but pour poison into our ears as well.

In my view we should do away with a State broadcaster, and even more vehemently oppose the restrictions on free speech.