Complaint by business men that SABC had unjustifiably employed the word “robbery” in stead of 
the word “theft” when a group of German tourists had lost their money and passports at a Sandton Hotel. The attention of the Commission was also drawn to the accompanying TV background insert which displayed a man with a gun.
BCCSA holding that in the circumstances the SABC had not acted negligently, since the person who informed the SABC had spoken of “robbery”. However, although the term “robbery” would seem to be used colloquially as a synonym for theft, the BCCSA was of the view that since the term could readily mislead viewers and listeners and could affect tourism to South Africa, it should in future only be used in cases where there is clear evidence of theft accompanied with violence or a threat of violence. In law handbag snatching has now also been accepted as a form of robbery. Accordingly the apt description in such a case would be “robbed”.
Insofar as the background material is concerned the BCCSA held that it should not accompany instances where there is no clear evidence of robbery as described above.