Two persons lodged a complaint against Highveld Stereo news. The complainants took issue with 
the fact that a reporter from the campus of the University of Pretoria stated that five protestors were injured by “Afrikaans” students during a protest action. They felt that it was unfair that the students were referred to by way of reference to race or language. Gone were the days when certain groups were labeled by the media for the actions of only a small part of that group with reference to their skin, colour or race. The same should apply to the users of certain languages. They demanded that the radio station apologize for its unfair comment. They object to the selective reference to certain race and language groups. None of the protesting students was referred to in terms of race or language. The one complainant feared that because of report, he might “be the victim of a retaliatory attack, only because my mother tongue is Afrikaans”.
The truth that it was Afrikaans students who attacked the protestors is not disputed. On the papers before us we could also not come to a different conclusion. Clause 35 requires fairness and truth. The Tribunal does not believe that the mere fact that “Afrikaans” was mentioned is unfair. It was the truth and came from the campus itself. The mentioning of “Afrikaans” is also not sufficient to glamorize violence in terms of clause 16(1). The argument that the mentioning of Afrikaans is likely lead to racial violence is also not acceptable. This reasoning presupposes that Black students might believe that all Afrikaans students were involved or that all Afrikaans students are likely to sympathize with the Afrikaans students involved. Such a point of view is, with respect, not justifiable. No students would draw such an inference.
The Tribunal, accordingly, came to the conclusion that the complaints were not justified. It is, of course, unwise to mention race or language in news items and it is always safer to steer a course clear of such references. In the present case, however, the Tribunal does not believe that the item was likely to polarize students.
The Complaints were not upheld.