No Big Debate. The SABC, censorship and more censorship on media freedom day
- Julie Reid
- Feb 6
- 1 min read
On Wednesday 17 October, two days before South Africans were due to commemorate National Media Freedom Day, the SABC pulled the popular current affairs talk show The Big Debate off air, mere hours before the first episode of the second season was due to be broadcast on SABC2. At first the SABC provided no reasons for this cancellation to the producers of The Big Debate, and later dubiously stated that it was due to an “editorial oversight”. This is but the latest episode in an ongoing saga that tells the tale of blatant political censorship at our public broadcaster.
The SABC’s canning of The Big Debate resulted in a storm of protest on social media, and statements of disgust from civil society including the Right2Know Campaign. Why is it so important that The Big Debate not be censored? If you haven’t yet watched an episode of the show, I’d highly recommend that you do – you can find the episodes of the first season on YouTube.
I particularly like the one that deals with the topic ‘Are the police out of control?’. In a post-Marikana context, the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa gets a roasting from fellow panelists and members of the audience. The minister does an admirable job of keeping calm whilst facing some tough questions, so much so that you almost feel sorry for him. But they are important questions, and as the man-in-charge he is responsible for answering them. Ministers shouldn’t ever expect a free ride in the accountability stakes, and when persons within the portfolio they are responsible for routinely kill people, even less so.