MultiChoice fined for violating code: BCCSA

LazyLion

LazyLion

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MULTICHOICE FINED FOR VIOLATING CODE

Multichoice has been fined R5000 for not providing adequate warning before airing a promotion of a programme which contained horror scenes on a Disney channel, the BCCSA said on Monday.

"...The absence of an adequate warning violated clause 18 of the code of conduct which protects the rights of parents and caregivers to be informed about the nature of material to which their children are exposed on television," the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA (BCCSA) said in its ruling, which was handed down on Thursday.

"The complaint was upheld and a penalty of R5000 imposed."

Tracey le Roux lodged a complaint about the promotion of a fantasy drama called "Wolfblood", which was broadcast on the Disney XD Channel on December 31 last year at around 11.49am.

Le Roux believed that although the promotion was of short duration, it contained scenes of growing human teeth and finger nails, suggesting an episode of a horror movie and requiring an age restriction of 13.

Le Roux submitted that this sort of imagery was unsuitable and disturbing to children.

Disney channels are for children from eight years old to teenagers.

"...We have decided that the scenes in the promo are too scary for younger viewers and that the broadcaster should have given adequate warning to viewers that the promo is not suitable for viewing by children 13-years-old and younger," the BCCSA ruled.

"We therefore uphold the complaint."


Source : Sapa /mar/jk/jje
Date : 09 Jun 2014 11:04
 
SABC REPRIMANDED FOR VIOLATING CODE

The SABC has been reprimanded for contravening the broadcasting code for not giving an organisation the fair right of reply, the BCCSA said on Monday.

"The errors of fact, together with the omission of relevant material, amounted to a contravention of the BCCSA [Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA] code," the commission said in its ruling, which was handed down on Friday.

The commission said a fine was not imposed in the matter.

"Ultimately, the question arose whether a fine should not be imposed. To create an impression of dishonesty in a broadcast without sufficient grounds to do so is, certainly, a serious matter," it said.

"We have, indeed, followed this approach where a person had unjustifiably been made out to be a paedophile. The present matter, although serious, is not as serious as that matter. We tend to agree with the complainant that the judgment itself is a satisfactory sanction. A reprimand would, in the circumstances, suffice."

World-wide Foundation CC (a division of Rhino Force) lodged a complaint over a programme aired on the show "50/50" broadcast on SABC 2 on October 28 last year.

The subject of the interview was the sale of bracelets by the complainant, who had undertaken to donate the profit from each sale to saving rhino.

The complainant argued that the interview on the show was not balanced, and in spite of the SABC's production team being provided with facts demonstrating the complainant's honesty, the programme nevertheless chose to project an image of dishonesty.

The BCCSA held that while the original reason for the programme was reasonable and justified, and dealt with a controversial issue of public importance, the programme was not fair to the complainant.

"The programme included facts and opinions that were not based on facts, or on a reasonable perception thereof," the ruling stated.

"Furthermore, the programme created an impression of dishonesty and/or lack of transparency on the part of the complainant, an impression which was not based on the facts."

The commission found that the programme referred facts, or opinion stated as facts, to which the complainant was not given a substantively fair right of reply.

"And in so doing, the programme did not provide sufficient balance to afford audiences the opportunity of forming their own opinions," it said.

"...The complaint was upheld and the SABC reprimanded for its contravention of the broadcasting code."


Source : Sapa /mar/jk/jje
Date : 09 Jun 2014 10:48
 
ponder said:
Convening the meeting/panel etc probably cost 10x more...
Click to expand...
At first I thought it was a typo. That perhaps the author had left a few zeros off. Fining an entity like MultiChoice R5000 is just a sad waste of time.
 
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