Newly-elected MDDA chairperson Gugu Msibi said she hoped television newcomers Telkom Media, On Digital Media, WOWtv and e.sat, as well as radio players Capricorn FM, M-Power and Radio North West would join the rest of the industry in its support of the MDDA.
Most of the big media houses, including Caxton, Media24, Independent Group, Avusa, Kagiso Media, e.tv, Primedia, M-Net and the SABC, make financial contributions to the statutory agency. These companies signed five-year funding agreements with the MDDA in 2004.
Msibi was speaking at a breakfast meeting where the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, introduced the new MDDA board ahead of its first board meeting on Thursday.
Pahad told guests the government would continue with its “arm’s length” relationship with the MDDA.
“The board of the MDDA will continue to take its own decisions as to who they fund and how much they fund,” Pahad said.
He also emphasised that the MDDA’s work should not be seen as competition to the private sector but rather as an effort to “make contributions in assisting people to become more professional… and attracting some of our best brains into this profession”.
The MDDA is a statutory development agency aimed at increasing and promoting access to the media for historically disadvantaged communities. Its beneficiaries are community media and small commercial media. It was set up as a partnership between the government and major print and broadcasting media companies, in terms of the MDDA Act No. 14 of 2002.
!_LT_EM■!_LT_/EM Read !_LT_EMThe Media!_LT_/EM magazine’s March issue for an interview with the new chairperson.
