SABC2 fined for rebroadcasting three year old content

In addition to the fine, the channel must now issue an apology and give Community Dialogue of South Africa (Codisa) eight minutes worth of airtime for a right of reply on SABC2’s mistake of not checking whether the content was still factual or not.

Codisa’s eight minute reply will touch on how the non-profit organisation’s circumstances have changed since the the initial broadcast three years ago in 2009. Codisa’s reply must occur before May 15 this year.

“The SABC made an error in its rebroadcast of 8 November 2012 regarding the current status of an organisation of Codisa. The SABC erred in failing to check the present status of affairs at Codisa,” said the BCCSA in its judgement.

The old Speak Out episode allegedly exposed fraudulent activities within Codisa, but the BCCSA judgement stated: “The situation had however changed, which would have necessitated a substantial amendment to the programme when rebroadcast.”

Codisa told the BCCSA: “Our new partners and sponsors are pulling out of our organisation one by one and we are inundated by calls from our new sponsors and old clients asking us why we [are] on Speak Out again.”

SABC2 told the BCCSA they relied on two women featured in the episode in question as a source for information.

In response to the error, SABC2 told BCCSA: “We had no doubt that the situation had not changed when the repeat broadcast, as is standard practice, was broadcast. However now that this has been brought to our attention, we have taken steps to ensure that the programme will not be rebroadcast in its original form.”

The BCCSA responded to SABC2 by saying the broadcaster must check to see whether circumstances have changed or not, despite it being common practice to repeat programmes.

This is especially important when a person or company reputation is on the line.

According to the BCCSA’s judgement, the hearing took place on February 21.