CASE NUMBER: 29/2007 – etv VS WESLEYAN CHURCH – RELIGION – APPEAL JUDGMENT

A Tribunal held, by way of a majority judgment, that the Scorcese film, Last Temptation of Christ, amounted to hate speech based on religion and that the exemption in favour of bona fide drama also did not apply. The minority was of the view that the film did not amount to hate speech. On appeal  the Appeal Tribunal held that the judgment of the Tribunal was clearly wrong for the following reasons: (1). the Tribunal did not interpret the film correctly in that it based its reasoning on the premise that the temptation was succumbed to, even if only on an imaginary basis; (2) in any case, the Tribunal should have attributed special weight to the overwhelming aesthetical value of the film and have held it to be bona fide drama; and (3) the Tribunal impermissibly delved into factors extrinsic to the film in so far as “bona fide/s” was concerned. The Appeal Tribunal was, accordingly, of the view that it did not only differ in its conclusion as to the question whether the Broadcasting Code was contravened, but that the errors made were so fundamental that it could, with confidence, conclude that the Tribunal’s judgment was clearly wrong in terms of the Rules. The Appeal against the finding of the Tribunal was, accordingly, upheld and its decision set aside. e-tv did not contravene the Broadcasting Code by broadcasting the film as from 23:15 with due classification and an age restriction.