Press Release

eNews response to Government Series

As stated earlier this week SABIDO (owner of e.tv and eNCA) has initiated a review of the
infrastructure series aired on eNCA and e.tv earlier this year. This formed part of the channels
reflection on 20 years of democracy.
This series has come under intense scrutiny after the recent departure of CEO Marcel Golding and
CCO Bronwyn Keene-Young.
We are reviewing the process internally and what transpired. We will amend policies and procedures
in future should it be necessary. We are committed to editorial output that is truthful and transparent
says Sabido COO, Mark Rosin.
At the outset it is apparent that there were problems which should have been foreseen and avoided.
Firstly, lines appear to have been blurred between an undertaking to report on infrastructure
development in South Africa since 1994 and a commitment by Economic Development to spend
advertising on the channel. The perception that the news was paid for is deeply regrettable and we
wish to reassure our audiences that eNews remains an impartial and independent news outlet.
Recently appointed Managing Director of News, Patrick Conroy, says it clear that the news division
should have been more directly involved in the discussions at the time as these matters were usually
dealt with by the sales department who are non-editorial staff.
The news division was at all times operating independently. In our view the advertising placements
were non-editorial and separate. We felt it had no impact on the stories we were telling and we were
reassured that editorial rested with us he says.
However Conroy says It became clear that the boundaries of editorial control were not clear to
everyone involved and this created confusion between ourselves and the department. Despite this at
no point did our editors surrender control.
Conroy says news management agreed afterwards that in future clearer rules and policies were
needed to avoid confusion between commercial messages and editorial ones.
As a result of the issues above we have not entered into any similar agreements subsequently. It was
open to misinterpretation and could be confused with advertorial content. Work on clearer policies and
guidelines began once these issues were raised.
Conroy says the exact nature of deals needs to be clear, especially where there may be a perception
that paid advertising in one respect has a impact on editorial matters in another. This needs to be clear
internally and in relation to third parties"

Viewers should at all times be comforted in the knowledge of the fact that what they're watching is
independently produced by our news division. Where necessary, disclosures should be included to
reinforce this he says.
Released by:
Vasili Vass
Group Head: Corporate Affairs
vasili.vass@etv.co.za