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Lovemore Ranga Mataire
THE national broadcaster, ZBC, has over the past few years faced a myriad of challenges that have compromised its capacity to execute its national mandate of being a credible and reputable national institution worth of record and a source of national pride.It cannot be disputed that the bulk of the problems faced by ZBC bordered on corporate delinquency, mismanagement and dereliction of duty which then prompted the parent Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services to suspend the chief executive officer Happison Muchechetere.
One of the issues raised by the ministry was the failure by Muchechetere and the ZBC board to come up with a strategic blueprint to reposition the national broadcaster not only as a reputable media house, but also as a profitable entity able to meet its running costs.
Sadly, the board failed to come up with a plan of action needed to resurrect the national entity despite the availability of numerous research studies commissioned by the same institution on how the public broadcaster could be strengthened.
If only the board members had sifted through their own archives, they would have stumbled on a number of insightful studies which could have been useful foundational reference points in revamping ZBC. One such research was carried out by Eland Research Services way back in 2007, titled Strengthening the National Public Service Broadcaster.
In its preamble, the research notes that ZBC as a national public service broadcasting company exists to tell the Zimbabwean story from a national and Afro-centric perspective.
It states that in fulfilling its national mandate, ZBC is expected to provide programmes and programming that “reflect, develop, foster and respect the gains of the liberation struggle and values of cultural and religious diversity and African solidarity.” While the research cites urgent areas of review that include organisational structure, commercial broadcasting, content, programming, technological advancement and delivery platform, it also highlights funding as critical in turning around the fortunes of the national broadcaster.
However, while Government funding is essential in making the ZBC stable and secure, the research advocates a clear legal framework that projects the level of funding for an appropriate period of time.
ZBC, like other national broadcasters worldwide, relies on listeners’ licence fees, advertising and government budgetary allocations. The issue of licence fees, though contentious in Zimbabwe, is actually a common practice and a constitutional requirement in a number of countries. “The involuntary nature of a listener’s licence fee distinguishes it from fees paid by subscribers to commercial pay TV broadcasters. The amount payable can either be fixed by law or the criteria and procedures for setting the amount,” reads part of the study.
Indeed, parliament in countries like France, Britain and Germany determine the fee, either for a number of years ahead or for an unlimited period. In other countries, the government or a ministry can fix the licence fees and the national broadcaster is exempted from the exercise. Most national broadcasters are more comfortable in having the listener’s licence fees as their major source of revenue because on face value this source of funding is stable, secure, predictable and less volatile than any other means of funding.
Besides creating the link between the broadcaster and its viewers and listeners, licence fees reduce dependence on advertising revenue. The national broadcaster must therefore be able to balance the interests of its advertisers and its social and moral obligations as over reliance on the former has a tendency of “deforming” programme content and schedules.
Besides creating a link between the institution and its clientele, licence fees seem to be more preferable as the source of funding because they are more stable and less volatile compared to advertising revenue. It is, however, irrational for ZBC to over-rely on licence fees as the major source of revenue for all its operations given the fact that viewers and listeners are usually fickle, especially if they do not derive meaningful value from their subscriptions.
Given the volatility of advertising and the fickle of listeners and viewers, Government funding becomes the ultimate bedrock of any public service broadcaster. Government funding promotes financial stability while commercial funding leads to ‘privatisation’ of the public sphere.
The need for government funding was highlighted in a parliamentary select committee report of March 1999. The report highlighted ZBC’s perennial failure to post any profit since independence save for 1994 and 1999. Lack of government funding was highlighted as being the major ingredient for the poor performance.
Indeed, faced by multifarious critical areas needing financial injection, the Government was forced to halt any financial support to ZBC especially at the height of the IMF-inspired neo-liberal policies which began in 1991.
However, the loss of financial support during these years cannot be used as an alibi by successive management teams as the basis of their failure to come up with audited accounts or annual reports since 1999. Management has over the years not put to good use licence fees collected from viewers and listeners over the years.
However, mediocre programming has also created indifference from viewers and listeners who justifiably viewed licence fees as some kind of extortion. Mechanisms should have been put in place to ensure transparency in the collection and use of licence fees in improving programming and the reach of airwaves to outlaying areas in the country.
It is thus critical that a public broadcasting service like ZBC builds a solid financial base and still not lose focus of contributing to social understanding, affirmation, coherence and integration.
An entity like ZBC must be treated as a strategic national institution in the same manner that military institutions and structures are treated. The impending opening of airwaves must as a matter of survival equip ZBC with the necessary skills needed in finding an appropriate funding model for the long-term success of the national entity.
As noted in the study by Eland Research Services, ZBC must come up with a funding model that is substantive enough to create a true competitor to commercial channels. While it maybe demoralising to provide funding for seemingly under-performing ZBC, the government must bear in mind the critical role the corporation plays in sustaining the national and cultural fabric.
It is also important that ZBC comes up with a funding model that is independent of commercial pressures and influences as over reliance on advertising could lead to a less value-driven distinctive schedule. “Accordingly, if an advertising-funded ZBC is to increase its advertising revenue, it will become less rigorous in its programming with regard to the ideologically oriented programmes and serious attention to the Pan-African and Nationalist Ethos.”
Advertising income for ZBC has tended to be volatile mainly because of advertising’s dependence on the business cycle, susceptibility to competitiveness pressures and the commercial and industrial sectors being part of the hostile agenda against Zimbabwe.
Other forms of funding likely not to put commercial pressures for ZBC can be in the form of donated products and services and this is a standard practice for feature films and films made for television.
This will in turn reduce production costs as sponsors usually donate prizes in game shows, and in competitions for viewers or listeners. Programme sales, merchandising; teleshopping and electronic commerce can all be other avenues that ZBC can generate revenue. In general, while various remedies can be applied for the rebounding of ZBC, it is an inescapable fact that the majority of public service broadcasters are funded whether by pure public funding (listener’s license fees or government grant), or by a mixture of public funding, advertising and sponsorship.
The funding from fiscus should at least be fixed for a period of several years, if possible with automatic adjustment mechanisms linked to inflation, increases in the Government budget or other appropriate criteria.
Online Reporter