Today marks 75 years since the existence of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC News Service.
It was on July 17, 1950, when the SABC News aired its first news bulletin from the broadcast house on Commissioner Street, Johannesburg.
Two years later, the news bulletins were extended to include regional bulletins, followed by a rediffusion service relaying African language broadcasts into metropolitan areas and townships.
The news service has evolved since then, with SABC News, through its TV bulletins, digital streaming and radio platforms, continuing to position itself as the leader in providing Independent and impartial news on the African continent and beyond.
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) Director William Bird says SABC was known as part of the state and propaganda arm of the Nationalist Party government.
Bird says, “Even before then if you go back television was resisted by then Nationalist Party because they saw it as this thing that will bring in evil, vesuvius values, it was going to assist in Satanism been spread throughout the land and people getting all sorts of wild and liberation ideas and communist coming, and taking over.”
“That’s when they started to see that actually this could be an incredibly powerful tool to help keep these black people who kept demanding rights, and it was a useful tool for them to exercise very draconian and revolting forms of power. It was common for SABC to accompany SAPS when they were looking for ANC cooperatives, and they would burst in and go into their house with TV cameras, then…but definitely we are in a better place today than we were then,” he adds.
VIDEO | Unpacking the SABC News’ editorial policies:
Today, we begin our journey of tracking the evolution of the SABC News and its impact on the lives of millions of South Africans.
