SABC nailed for showing innocent pub in drug raid story

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has ruled against the SABC after they showed the name of a pub in a news report in a way that created the impression it was implicated in a drug raid.

Fox Den Pub owner Amjad Khan complained about the story the public broadcaster ran on Sunday‚ 1 April at 3pm on their 24-hour news channel.

“I take huge offence to the inaccurate reporting of events that transpired on Saturday 31 March‚” said Khan.

The news report said eight pubs were raided in the Johannesburg CBD and shutdown for non-compliance and drugs found on the premises.

Khan said the negative publicity led to reputational damage.

“My business‚ Fox Den Pub‚ was neither shut down nor issued with any fines. There were also no arrests made at my premises.”

The SABC said the name of the pub was only visible in the background when they interviewed with Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.

“The camera focus is on Minnaar though the name of pub is visible in the background.”

It added they did not imply that the Fox Den Pub was implicated in the raids.

Khan hit back and said the response was “insufficient and inexcusable” as the onus was on the SABC to block out the name of the pub if it was not one of the guilty parties.

He added that the news report showed the entrance of Fox Den Pub when the voice-over used phrases including “eight clubs were raided”‚ “20-year-old arrested”‚ and “thousands of rands of fines were issued”.

“The lifting of tablecloths and the sniffer dog bit was recorded inside my premises‚” he said.

BCCSA commissioner Nokubonga Fakude ruled the visuals and voice-over bore “unintended results which to the ordinary viewer would suggest that the pub was one of those pubs being discussed”.

Fakude criticised the SABC for submitting that the Fox Den Pub can put a positive spin on the news report to show it is a legally compliant business.

“This is an incorrect stance to adopt. It shifts the burden to the complainant (Khan) who now has the duty to rectify an unsolicited display of the pub’s name on what appeared to be a negative broadcast on non-compliant pubs‚” said Fakude.

The BCCSA upheld the complaint.