29 May 2009
PRESS RELEASE
TV CRISIS MARCH: TELL THE SABC WHAT YOU THINK
The television industry is forging ahead with its planned protest action against the SABC on 4 June 2009. The response to the TVIEC’s call for companies and individuals to join us has been well received and our numbers are growing. Many unions, actors and musicians are on board and now we are putting out a call to the public to get involved too.
The SABC has a mandate to provide relevant, compelling and useful entertainment to South Africans. We are expected to pay our TV licences; in return, we expect SABC to fulfil its mandate. The current monetary and management crisis at SABC means we are being fed a diet of repeat programming and foreign content. Ultimately, it is viewers who suffer when the television production industry is offered untenable budgets and when payment is withheld due to mismanagement. Now there is an opportunity for viewers to voice their opinions.
Send SABC a SMS
The TV Crisis March is calling on South Africans to send an SMS that tells the SABC what people think of the current crisis and the state of the broadcaster’s programming. We will collate these comments and deliver them to the powers that be as well as to the media.
The number to send to: 31970. Your SMS must start with the word TV. SMS’s are charged at 50 cents.
The TVIEC is fighting FOR the SABC – for a transparent, fair and sustainable SABC that upholds the values of a credible and responsible public broadcaster, respectful of the South African public and its key partner in content supply – the local production sector.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: tvcrisis@gmail.com
This press release is written on behalf of the TVIEC (Television Industry Emergency Coalition) which consists of: IPO (Independent Producers Organization), SASFED (South African Screen Federation), TPA (The Producers Alliance), DFA (Documentary Filmmakers Association), WGSA (Writers Guild of South Africa) as well as the CWU (Creative Workers Union).
