Last year, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) complained to the BCCSA that Gareth’s showbroadcast on July 22 2020 was unlawful, harmful and in breach of SA’s broadcasting code.
Video of the interview here, David Icke segment starts at 34 mins.
The BBCSA’s initial stance was that the episode spread “dangerous misinformation” and e.tv and eNCA were fined R10k for airing the episode.
However, earlier this week, the Appeal Tribunal issued a different finding after eNCA appealed the initial judgment.
In statement released on the website, the summary of the judgment read as follows: “The appeal was upheld. The comments of the guest, Mr Icke, was his honest opinion based on facts truly stated. The added requirement that comment in terms of Clauses 28(2) (2) and 12(2) should be reasonable and justifiable is unfounded and rejected.
In the episode, Gareth interviewed David Icke, who claimed Covid-19 didn’t exist and that Covid-19 was a scam, and he described the pandemic as a hoax.
The interview of 13 minutes in length, Gareth Cliff did not give David an opportunity to present his research and cite his sources and the judgement is a partial refection of this. One can only wonder how interesting this case would have been if that had happened.
This a welcome win for freedom of speech in this COVID era of censorship.
ADV S LÖTTER Citing Cameron J in Democratic Alliance v African National Congress and Another 2015 (2) SA 232 (CC) [122] should serve as a reminder the importance of healthy debate in society.
