Global Media News

FPB set to censor the internet in South Africa?

One of the draft policies ready to be implemented by the Film and Publications Board (FPB), is that it will not allow any digital content to be distributed in South Africa without the organizations consent. The organizations policy even applies to major online corporations such as Google. It will even go as far as taking legal action against bloggers who post online videos and clips. 

 

According to http://mybroadband.co.za/news/  here is the reason for such strict supervision:

"The primary mandate of the FPB, formerly a censorship board under the apartheid regime, is to protect children from exposure to disturbing and harmful material, and premature exposure to adult experiences; to provide consumer advice to enable adults and the children in their care to make informed viewing, reading and gaming choices; and to make the use of children in and the exposure of children to pornography punishable."

Another aspect of this policy is the payment fee for outside digital distributors set by FPB. Once the fee is payed and the content follows the guidelines of the FPB it will be set on display in South Africa. However according to http://mg.co.za/

"“In all classification decisions for digital content, the online distributor must ensure that the board’s classification decision and logo is conspicuously displayed on the landing page of the website, the website catalogue of the online distributor’s landing page of the website, at the point of sale and during the streaming of the digital content,” the document states."

 

Therefore, with this policy in place FPB will still remain in full control of all online based content in South Africa. This payment applies to anyone who tries to distribute any online games, videos, blogs, films etc. via the internet. The policy is non-negotiable and perpetrators will be vulnerable to immediate legal action The bill as of now is at it's final stages and was sent to the minister of communications in August 2014. If approved it is ready to be enacted in March 2016 and the censorship of the internet in South Africa will begin. 

Head of News And Current Affairs at Botswana TV Resigned

       In 2001 The Press Gazette published an article about British journalist Chris Bishop who quit Botswana TV after less of a year because he was against the censorship that the country imposed on the TV station. Bishop resigned after government officials blocked the broadcast of a documentary about a white South African woman who was hanged for murder.  

    Bishop would constantly get interference and harassment from the country's government officials. According to the Press Gazette, "Bishop said he had made it clear before he agreed to work for the government-funded TV station that he would only do so if he could run it without interference." Censorship in Africa is common and Bishop thought that he could have freedom in producing a TV show.

Global Media News Webcast #2: February 7, 2013

  Media News from Africa

Global Media News for February 7, 2013

Global Media News is a weekly webcast covering media news from around the world.  This webcast is a production of  Media Studies students from the SUNY College @ Old Westbury.

This is our second webcast of the spring season and our second webcast on media news from Africa.  Last week we covered North Africa and this week we feature stories from south of the Sahara.  

This week on Global Media News:   "Media Stories from Sub-Saharan Africa"

• The Politics of South African Media: ANC censorship of advertising
• How YouTube Videos Made the South African Miner's Strike Big News
• Social Media in South Africa:  Can Facebook catch a thief?
• Cell Phones in Kenya
• Ushahidi: Live-Mapping Kenyan Electoral Violence
• Social Media's Role in the Upcoming Kenyan Elections
• TV in Botswana:  Self-regulation or state control?
• Press Freedom in Zambia & Ethiopia

Next week on GMN:   Media News from Western Europe and the U.K.

Listen to our webcast streaming live next Thursday @ 11am EST.

Can't listen live? Our next webcast of the season will be posted by 2:00pm, Thursday, February  14, 2013.

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