Page 181 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

strategy for displacing “the actual context of conditions” (Teer-Tomaselli and
10
Tomaselli 2001, 105). The very conservative orientation of the programming
and restrictions on preaching with political content drove a number of English-
language churches in 1979 to challenge the racism and narrowness of the SABC.
Under the auspices of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), they
even appealed to the wider Christian community to boycott the SABC and to
consider alternative broadcasting facilities. While they failed to counter the in-
tolerance and extreme right-wing views of the organizer of religious television
programs, they took advantage of the greater ®exibility of radio with its live
broadcasts. Some preachers were able to address socially relevant and politi-
cally sensitive issues through such rhetorical devices as allegory and analogy
(ibid., 107).
In one of the few published analyses of religious broadcasting policy in South
Africa, Russell Baker, a research associate at the main hub of media studies in
South Africa, the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, directed by Keyan Tomaselli, aptly describes it as char-
acterized by “contestation and consultation” as well as “progressive develop-
ments” (Baker 2000, 237). He traces these developments through various policy
documents speci¤cally oriented to the coverage of religion, devoting particular
attention to the more recent phase of religious broadcasting policy. He notes the
role played by the SACC in establishing a discussion forum—the Independent
Forum for Religious Broadcasting (IFRB)—aimed at addressing the problems
associated with religious broadcasting and SABC’s consultative process (ibid.,
242). This resulted in the production of the IFRB’s Charter for Religious Broad-
casting in 1984. The forum consisted of members representing the various
Christian churches (Afrikaans, English, and African Independent), as well as
the Hindu, Muslim, and Jewish communities. They advocated “fundamental
changes in the relationships between religions and churches and the SABC” and
“both equitable distribution of broadcasting time and greater theological con-
trol over the content of religious programmes” (ibid., 242–243). 11
In response to these public concerns and the new democratic dispensation,
SABC circulated a Working Draft Policy on Religious Broadcasting to religious
organizations in October 1994 (for the text, see Baker 2000, 238–241) and es-
12
tablished the Religious Broadcasting Panel (RBP) in the same year. The RBP
met several times between 1995 and 1998, serving as interface between the
13
SABC and religious communities. It set up committees to address concerns of
individual communities, such as traditional African religious groups, who com-
plained about being included in the category of African independent churches,
or as nothing else but culture (see Mndende 1998). Steps were taken to cultivate
interfaith programming, and to improve training and development for staff
14
from previously disadvantaged communities. The head of Religion from the
British Broadcasting Corporation conducted workshops at the major centers.
Suleiman Dangor notes that one of the most heated debates in the RBP was over
time allocation (see below).

170 Rosalind I. J. Hackett