The section pertaining to public broadcasting:
- All State and government controlled broadcasters should be transformed into public service broadcasters, that are accountable to all strata of the people as represented by an independent board, and that serve the overall public interest, avoiding one-sided reporting and programming in regard to religion, political belief, culture, race and gender.
- Public service broadcasters should, like broadcasting and telecommunications regulators, be governed by bodies which are protected against interference.
- The public service mandate of public service broadcasters should clearly defined.
- The editorial independence of public service broadcasters should be guaranteed.
- Public service broadcasters should be adequately funded in a manner that protects them from arbitrary interference with their budgets.
- Without detracting from editorial control over news and current affairs content and in order to promote the development of independent productions and to enhance diversity in programming, public service broadcasters should be required to broadcast minimum quotas of material by independent producers.
- The transmission infrastructure used by public service broadcasters should be made accessible to all broadcasters under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.
Read the full document here.
This excerpt is an adaptation of a piece that originally appeared in the AFRICAN FREE PRESS, a MISA project supported by DW AKADEMIE.