By Staff Reporter
Community Media Compliance took a centre stage during the interactive Community Media Workshop that was hosted by The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on the 24 June at Greater Giyani Local Municipality, New Council Chamber.
GCIS recently hosted this crucial engagement with members of the community media who were addressed by Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), Sentech and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) among other stakeholders. Radio Turf, Moletši FM and Perfect Radio were among the community media outlets in attendance.
The discussions aimed to explore collaborative solutions and policy interventions that could strengthen community media and ensure that grassroots voices continue to be heard across media platforms.
Speaking to Limpopo Insider, GCIS Deputy Director, Maphuti Mathato highlighted that the purpose of this engagements was to create awareness to the community media houses about salient matters ranging from collaboration with government to standard procedures that need to be taken into considerations.
“We have several media houses in need of support from government, yet they are not compliant. As such, we used this workshop to address the formal processes that needs to be followed by those in need of government support”, Mathato said.
One of the main concerns raised during the workshop was the insufficient support for community media, which remain crucial in providing local content, especially in rural communities.
Mathato explained that support from government is available and accessible only for the community media houses that qualify.