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The SABC's Morning Live has been ordered to apologise to The Daily Sun after broadcasting a one-sided interview in which the SABC didn't bother to include the newspaper that was slammed on the show.
The Daily Sun, a tabloid newspaper in the Naspers stable, lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) against the SABC after Leanne Manas on Morning Live did an interview segment about "fake news" that went after the newspaper.
Leanne Manas interviewed Wilson B. Nkosi, a radio DJ at the SABC's Metro FM radio station in November 2016. Wilson B. Nkosi was the subject of a story in The Daily Sun.
During the interview, Wilson B. Nkosi said the story in The Daily Sun was "a fabricated story, from top to bottom", that "The Daily Sun must be exposed" and that "a lot of tabloid publications get away with it because they know that most people can't afford the legal fees".
Leanne Manas during the interview told SABC2 and SABC News (DStv 404) viewers that "people often lament how easy it is for journalists to fabricate stories without even trying to verify them. Sitting with us now is Wilson B. Nkosi who has been a victim of such".
The Daily Sun wasn't included in the interview, or asked for a response.
Leanne Manas said Wilson B. Nkosi was "a victim of one of these defamation stories", and that "the moral here is, please, what you read take it with a pinch of salt because it may not be the truth. It really may not".
The BCCSA tribunal approved the on-air apology settlement that the SABC must broadcast on SABC2's Morning Live.
"Morning Live would like to apologise to The Daily Sun. This after the newspaper was unfairly treated on this programme on 22 November 2016 regarding a story that The Daily Sun had written about Wilson B Nkosi."
"The SABC acknowledges that The Daily Sun was not given a right of reply. Based on the remarks during the programme, the SABC apologises to The Daily Sun."
