Public Service Media Symposium Report

On Thursday 5 March, SOS (Support Public Broadcasting) hosted the official launch webinar for the Public Service Media Symposium Report, marking the culmination of collaborative work with the Media Programme Sub-Saharan Africa of Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung to translate the 2025 PSM Symposium’s insights into a formal, evidence‑based report. The session featured contributions from report author Viola C. Milton and editor Izak Minnaar, who unpacked the report’s key findings, its policy relevance, and the critical role it plays in strengthening South Africa’s public service media landscape.

As our Media Programme Director, Hendrik Sittig, noted during today’s launch, the report speaks to a far bigger conversation than funding alone:

"The report makes one point unmistakably clear: we are at a moment where South Africa – like many countries – must take fundamental decisions. This is not merely a budget conversation. It is a conversation about the future of the democratic public sphere. I’m convinced, public service media are not a luxury – they are essential. But they must be politically supported, financially stabilized and digitally enabled."

The new report emerging from the 2025 Public Service Media Symposium delivers a powerful and timely assessment of South Africa’s public service media landscape - calling attention to the urgent reforms needed to secure the SABC’s role as democratic infrastructure. The report highlights that millions, particularly poorer and rural households, continue to rely on the SABC for trusted, multilingual news and local storytelling.

However, this essential public service is under unprecedented strain. The report documents a failing, poverty‑linked licence‑fee model, declining advertising revenue siphoned off by global digital platforms, and growing pressure from powerful pay‑TV operators. The Canal+–MultiChoice consolidation further raises concerns about control over content, visibility and access in an increasingly platform‑dominated environment.

Governance vulnerabilities, including politicised board appointments and weak editorial protections, compound these challenges and leave the SABC exposed to subtle forms of media capture through structural underfunding. The report calls for a progressive, tech‑neutral public media funding model, strengthened independence‑by‑design governance, and an ecosystem‑wide approach that acknowledges public service media as a constitutional necessity.

We recognise the value of this report’s insights and are pleased to have supported its development. Its findings offer an important foundation for ongoing policy discussions about strengthening South Africa’s public service media in a rapidly changing digital environment.

You can read the full report as a pdf.