Complaint that Broadcasters flighting a news report disclosing the identity and name of a minor, as televisionwell as his HIV/Aids status, without masking the minor’s face or digitally fragmenting his image, amounts to a contravention of Clause 38 of the Broadcasting Code and an infringement of the minor’s constitutional rights to privacy and dignity.  Further, that the natural parents and legal guardians of the minor, in signing a waiver authorizing the relevant broadcast, did not fully appreciate the legal consequences of such waiver of the minor’s rights, and that therefore the minor’s best interest was violated. 

The Tribunal held that, since there was a compelling societal interest that the Aids pandemic be communicated to the public, and since the parents had granted their permission, the broadcasts had not contravened the Code. Insofar as the fundamental rights of the child were concerned, the invasion, even if it had occurred, had been reasonable in terms of section 36 of the Constitution.