CTV appeals to government

“We need a government bailout of at least R550 000 to clear all the debts owed to Sentech and we need it desperately to restart our broadcasting operations,” Karen Thorne told Bizcommunity.com while attending a community media reflection conference currently taking place in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

“It costs only about R5 million a year to run CTV and we are asking the government to fund at least one-fifth of our operating costs. We are not asking for a hand-out as we believe there is so much we can give back in return, such as setting aside 5% of our airtime for government programmes,” a visibly frustrated Thorne added.

Lack of political will to promote freedom of expression?

It has been almost two weeks since CTV was forced to go off air due to cash-flow problems, which include being unable to pay R65 000 monthly to Sentech for transmission costs.

Thorne said that even if they had to start operating again, the station will still pay R137 000 a month to Sentech instead of the usual R65 000, as a result of being forced to sign an acknowledgement of debt after reaching a point where they could not afford to pay their distribution costs.

“We have been unsuccessfully lobbying government to come on board for a while, and have knocked on almost all doors, including municipal and provincial entities, DoC, GCIS and many more, and I am beginning to believe that there is a lack of political will to promote freedom of expression in this country,” she said.

Incensed

Many community media managers told similar stories yesterday at the conference, accusing the government, especially the DoC, of making empty promises and neglecting community media. Some said they have been waiting for five years to be helped but nothing has happened, forcing their organisations to cease operations or operate in the ‘intensive care unit' mode.

Incensed by the state's ‘negative attitude' towards community media, activists and lobbyists attending the conference yesterday questioned the ANC-led government's commitment to effectively promote media development and diversity, a vital channel for social change and participatory democracy.

CTV, which used to operate 24 hours a day and claims to have 2.5 million people living under its footprint, employs 16 people (eight full-time; 10 volunteers) and represents over 100 community-based organisations, Thorne said.

“CTV is a very viable station. As I am sitting here listening to another talk-show, my phone is ringing non-stop and my advertisers are pulling off one by one and the people of Cape Town are crying over their station,” Thorne said emotionally.

“I think it is high time the government listened to the people, the very civil society we represent here.”

Attempts to get comment from DoC were unsuccessful. Its representative, Dr Mashilo Boloka, left the conference in a jiffy just after lunch.