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Legislation, Regulation, and Management in the South African Broadcasting Landscape: A Case Study of the South African Broadcasting Corporation
Introduction
Broadcasting is a particularly good barometer by which to measure political change in any country. National broadcasting, either in the classic form of public service broadcasting or in the more openly regulated form of commercially based broadcasting, is a daily record of the concerns, obsessions, ethos, and values of the society that produces it. Following a brief consideration of South Africa’s status as a transitional state, the present chapter is divided into two parts and a conclusion. In the first part, the various levels of governance are considered. These are the Parliament and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee; the Ministry of Communications; and the regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), later the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). The second part provides an introduction to the evolving legislation governing broadcasting and suggests some of the rationales for changes that have occurred. In the conclusion, I argue that the twenty years between 1990 and 2010 have seen an enormous change in the legislative and regulatory regimen of the broadcasting sector in South Africa. In surveying the legislation and regulation of this sector for the present research, it is my observation that these changes can be attributed directly to four intersecting ...
