{"id":8492,"date":"2021-09-30T13:44:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T13:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/sabc\/?p=8443"},"modified":"2021-10-12T09:35:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T09:35:49","slug":"ukhozi-fm-continues-to-be-innovative-as-it-includes-deaf-audiences-in-its-programming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/ukhozi-fm-continues-to-be-innovative-as-it-includes-deaf-audiences-in-its-programming\/","title":{"rendered":"UKHOZI FM CONTINUES TO BE INNOVATIVE AS IT INCLUDES DEAF AUDIENCES IN ITS PROGRAMMING"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Access to information has taken on a new meaning for the deaf audience of Ukhozi FM this Heritage month. The medium of Radio, traditionally reserved for hearing citizens, became accessible to the deaf community through a new SABC innovation that aims to discharge its public service mandate of serving a diverse society. Through this initiative, the SABC has ensured that its programming across its radio, television, and digital platforms, reaches a larger part of the society irrespective of\u00a0their geographical location, socio-economic status, age, disability, and\u00a0the\u00a0language\u00a0they speak.<br \/>\nThroughout history, public service broadcasting has been a vehicle through which citizens are informed on a variety of subjects and acquire knowledge and information which enables them to participate in the democratic system of our country.\u00a0Most public service broadcasters (PSB) around the world draw their mandate from the Reithian public service broadcasting philosophies which indicate that public broadcasters must provide services that are aimed at informing, educating, and entertaining the citizens. Therefore, public broadcasters including the SABC are mandated to maximize serving all citizens in a democracy to ensure that citizens have access to and participate in public life.\u00a0 The initiative by Ukhozi FM to integrate sign language into its programming is in place to ensure that the programmes offered by PSB institution are tailor-made for the diverse tastes and interests of the people.<br \/>\nThis initiative is a ground-breaking effort as never in the history of public broadcasting in South Africa has a Radio station integrated sign language in its programming to ensure inclusivity of its diverse audience. Furthermore, Ukhozi FM has created a new radio audience that has never experienced radio before, utilizing social media as an enabler. It is therefore imperative that the SABC continuously amplifies its efforts to ensure that none of the members of the society\u00a0are\u00a0left behind. According to the South African National Deaf Association (SANDA), an advocacy organization with a role of promoting and advancing the rights of Deaf people, there are over more than four million deaf citizens in South Africa, until recently have had limited access to radio broadcasting.<br \/>\nIn line with the SABC\u2019s Editorial Policies which govern SABC programming on a wide range of issues including stereotyping and discrimination, race, gender, disability, violence, audience advisories, privacy, dignity and reputation, and children, Ukhozi\u00a0FM\u2019s 12:00-15:00 show, \u2018<strong><em>Kanye Nawe\u2019<\/em><\/strong> is a culmination\u00a0of the SABCs\u2019 #Disability360\u00a0intervention\u00a0which\u00a0mandates the public broadcaster\u2019s content\u00a0to be\u00a0inclusive of\u00a0people living with\u00a0disabilities. Each Friday, a professional interpreter joins the last hour of the show dedicated to hosting artist interviews and tackling disability issues. The artist\u2019s\u00a0interview is then\u00a0broadcast\u00a0on Ukhozi\u00a0FM&#8217;s\u00a0social media platforms of\u00a0Facebook LIVE and the interpreter\u2019s Instagram Live.\u00a0\u00a0To date, Ukhozi FM LIVE page attracts 300- 500 viewers and the numbers reach up to 30 thousand viewers after the interview post is saved on the timeline. The numbers are growing exponentially, demonstrating the need for such programming in the community. This new audience group for Ukhozi FM comprises of an international deaf audience and attracts people of all races.<br \/>\nCentral to the overall programming across all SABC platforms is\u00a0broadcasting to meet the needs of\u00a0all\u00a0audiences and empower\u00a0the South African citizenry\u00a0at large.\u00a0 The SABC has set the highest of editorial standards, incorporating the values and principles of the South African Constitution, the requirements of the broadcasting legislation and policies and most importantly, the expectations of its audiences.\u00a0The public service broadcaster will continue to ensure the\u00a0successful delivery of important statutory obligations that have been bestowed upon it by the\u00a0broadcasting\u00a0legislation framework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Access to information has taken on a new meaning for the deaf audience of Ukhozi FM this Heritage month. The medium of Radio, traditionally reserved for hearing citizens, became accessible to the deaf community through a new SABC innovation that aims to discharge its public service mandate of serving a diverse society. Through this initiative, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8563,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8492\/revisions\/8563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabc.co.za\/sabc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}