A complaint was lodged against the broadcasting of a skit dealing with Magic Johnson and the joke 
that HIV “seems to make you real indecisive”. The Complainant considered the skit offensive and an infringement of dignity.
The Respondent contended that the complaint should not be entertained because the Complainant might not have listened to the programme. At the hearing, the Complainant satisfied the Tribunal that he did indeed listen to the broadcast. The Tribunal therefore concluded that the complaint was not mala fide and could be entertained.
In respect of the merits of the complaint, the Tribunal reiterated that the test regarding whether or not a broadcast violates the Code of Conduct is not what is offensive to specific individuals or whether members of a community might be offended by being exposed to it, but what the community would not allow other members of the community to be exposed to, because it would be beyond the contemporary South African standard of tolerance to allow them to be exposed to the particular broadcast. The test in this regard is the objective standard of the reasonable listener or viewer who is broadminded, balanced and not overly sensitive. Thus, the fact that the Complainant found the broadcast to be crass, hurtful and insensitive and was offended by it is insufficient to constitute a contravention of the Code.
The only ground on which the complaint could be considered was clause 38 of the Code of Conduct, which requires licensees to “exercise exceptional care and consideration in matters involving the dignity . . . of individuals”. The Complainant contended that his dignity was violated, but he could not offer an adequate explanation of why and how the broadcast violated his dignity. The Tribunal accordingly rejected the complaint regarding the violated of dignity.
The Complaint was dismissed.