A complaint was filed against an episode of The Devi Show that aired on August 4, 2024, at 20:17 on etv. The complainant’s business manager was initially interviewed, and his comments were included in the broadcast. The respondent sent a courtesy email to the complainant offering a last opportunity to comment on allegations by third parties before the programme aired. Although the offer was accepted, the program was aired without further response from the complainant. It transpired afterwards that the respondent only became aware of the complainant’s acceptance of the offer when the formal complaint was forwarded to them. The email was eventually found in a junk email box. The Tribunal held that it was evident that the complainant should have been offered a right to reply which the respondent did. However, the complainant’s responding email went unnoticed, with the result that the allegations were broadcast without the complainant’s response. The Tribunal found that Clause 13(2) of the Free-to-Air Code of Conduct had been contravened.
