06 February 2002
The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the Media Development and Diversity Agency Bill tabled in parliament this week. The SACP regards this Bill as an important step forward in the diversification and transformation of the media industry generally, and print media in particular in our country. This Bill will make it possible for local communities and ordinary working people to develop, own and control their own media which will reflect their own voices, interests and needs outside of the capitalist oligarchy which currently owns and controls South African media.
This oligarchy is accountable only to profit interests and not to the needs and interests of the majority of our people. The essentially capitalist, sexist and racially skewed ownership patterns in our media mean that the real voices, needs, issues and interests of the majority of our people are not adequately covered in South African media.
It is no surprise that the Democratic Alliance, as one of the key beneficiaries of these apartheid ownership patterns in the media, is unhappy at the introduction of this Bill. What lies behind the DA's unhappiness about the Bill is the fear of, and prejudice against a truly diverse and transformed media sector in our country. Such a media sector will be truly independent from the private capitalist market and owned by local communities and ordinary working people. The DA fears the real voices of ordinary people. The DA prefers the current ownership patterns in our media because this ensures that South African print media in particular largely remains nothing else but a front against transformation and a front for the opposition.
The SACP urges government, the Parliamentary Committee on Communications, the community media sector, progressive organisations and trade unions to ensure that this Bill is finalised and that the Media Development and Diversity Agency is established and functions without any delay.
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information and Publicity
South African Communist Party
Tel - 011 339 3621
Fax - 011 339 4244
Cell - 083 651 0271
Email - sacp1@wn.apc.org