A complaint was received in regard to a broadcast in which, the Complainant argued, an incorrect statement attributed to her in a newspaper was repeated on air by the Respondent broadcaster. The statement concerned the parole of a person who had, inter alia, by way of negligent driving caused bodily injuries to the Complainant.
Judging the facts as a whole, the BCCSA Tribunal came to the conclusion that a mistake had been made in not contacting the Complainant before the broadcast. The matter is a personal matter and the Complainant had a good reason to complain. However, in law persons are not always held liable for their mistakes. The omission to contact the Complainant was a reasonable error; furthermore, since what the newspaper published accorded with what a person in the position of the Complainant might in the ordinary course say, warning lights, as it were, did not go on for the broadcaster.
The complaint was not upheld, but the Respondent was nevertheless requested, in the spirit of ubuntu, to apologise on air.
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