CBA General Conference - 2004
NEWS AND SPEECHES
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What Future for the State Broadcaster
Emmanuel Nkurunziza, A/Commissioner for TV, Uganda
John Reith, the first Director General of the BBC defined public service broadcaster as one who should seek to inform and enlight the people of the nation as well as entertaining them with programmes of "high standards and good taste".
In most African countries, the State Broadcaster would be public service broadcasting defined in terms of state owned television and radio establishments that are owned, financed and controlled by the state but may also be financed partially by viewers and listeners through a compulsory license fee. In Uganda, Radio Uganda and Uganda Television fall under this category.
In place are control structures for state broadcasters. Authority to broadcast comes from the state and the state broadcaster is accountable to the state. Operators are publicly appointed. Financial allocation and control reside with the state, and then the state retains a measure of control over content.
However these control structures make broadcasting vulnerable especially from the state itself since it might have its own vested interests outside public representation. It is for this reason that independent broadcasting associations or authorities are set as in South Africa and Nigeria to mention a few. The state broadcaster also enjoys some privileges that include legislated monopoly, sustained by the compulsory license fee.
What are the obligations of the State broadcaster?
The state broadcaster should be universally available to all citizens because it is in the people's interest to ensure all citizens are able to participate in all matters related to their social, political and economic life and thereby to make an informed contribution to the development of their country.
The state broadcaster must be funded by the public it serves specifically by means of a compulsory license fee levied on all radio and television set owners. It must also provide a balanced programme schedule that can be broadcast in the national interest. The programming should cater for all existing interests and tastes; minorities should be given a special priviledge.
The state broadcaster should keep away from all vested interests especially the state and commercial interventions and broadcasting guidelines that are designed to liberate rather than restrict programme makers must be in place.
Today state control over broadcasting has been taken over by rapid technological changes. Traditional technological argument of spectrum scarcity has been rendered redundant due to cable and satellite television, community radio and computerized networks. Former monopolistic control of the medium by individual states is ineffective. It is now possible to broadcast outside control structures imposed by the state.
Because of commercialization, state broadcasters find their privileges inadequate to withstand competition with new players in the field. As a result State broadcasting institutions have been forced to intensify co-production deals; sub-contract parts of their programming and production facilities. But state broadcasters still owe society a special set of obligations regardless of their dwindling privilege base. The question is how to balance these two different scenarios!
The Future
We note the existence of an invasion of transnational forces at corporate, production and distribution levels in broadcasting. There has also been a shift from spectrum scarcity to multi-channel abundance. There exists an unprecedented competition for revenue and viewing and listening shares. In Uganda, the airwaves were liberalized in the early nineties without a clear distinction between the public or the State, commercial and community channels. This has weakened the informational dialogue and the link that used to exist between the State broadcaster and the public.
With the liberalization of airwaves, what was overlooked was the big social role the media has to play and the fact that State broadcasting could not be subjected to market forces and continue to play its traditional role.
While State broadcasters had enjoyed the monopoly over audience and advertisers, it was now no longer the case. It is evident that with increasing and inevitable commercialization the future of State broadcasting is indeed bleak, especially since governments never seem to have sufficient funds to sustain their media organizations in such a competitive and global industry.
Public service broadcasting is definitely threatened. The only remedy is the reintroduction of strong state regulated controls on private operators. The state broadcaster's survival is being compromised by commercial considerations. The voice for that remedy can be tuned at a conference like this one, and we in Uganda look to colleagues in the industry who have had positive experience on this issue to share it.
Further reading
Carver R (Ed) (1995) "Who rules the Airwaves-Broadcasting in Africa: Themes and Trends in African Broadcasting".
Nassanga G (Ed) *2003) The East African Media and Globalization: Defining the Public Interest