A complaint was lodged by Media Monitoring Africa against the Broadcasters eNCA and etv for broadcasting an interview with a certain Mr David Icke, also known as a conspiracy theorist, whose view is that the Covid-19 pandemic is a hoax and that “there is no virus.” At issue here is the limitation of freedom of expression. The Tribunal found that comments made during the interview were not justifiable nor reasonable because the misinformation spread by the interviewee could cause harm to the people of South Africa. The Tribunal found a contravention of Clause 28.2.2 of the Subscription Broadcasting Code and Clause 13 of the Free-to-Air Broadcasting Code respectively and the complaint was upheld.
May 15, 2023
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