SABC v Sunday Times: what the press ombudsman ruled

In its March 22 edition, the Sunday Times published a story about a looming discontinuation of Face the Nation, an SABC TV current affairs programme, under the headline “ANC muscles SABC to axe ‘harsh’ show”. The story was published in both the print edition as well as on our digital platform, TimesLIVE. The SABC subsequently complained to the Press Council about aspects of the story and some of the headlines in the paper and on TimesLIVE.

The SABC alleged that Sunday Times breached the Press Code in nine separate instances. It sought sweeping relief, including apologies, retractions, corrections, amended headlines, online notices and digital billboard corrections. It appealed for a published apology for what it said were errors in our story, as well as a retraction, correction and apology of such, together with its internal audience figures, which it only released after the Sunday Times’ publishing deadline. It also asked for a correction of headlines used in print and online.

However, after considering representations from both Sunday Times and the SABC, the acting press ombud dismissed the overwhelming majority of the broadcaster’s complaints. Among other things, the ombud found the SABC’s challenging of the credibility of the sources on which the story was based, “quite bizarre”. But he found that some of the headlines used with the story were in breach of Clause 10.1 of the Press Code, and that our failure to report on the audience figures released post publication was in violation of Clause 1.9 of the Code. The Ombud directed that Sunday Times/TimesLIVE apologise unconditionally for the violations, retract the relevant statement, publish the figures availed by the SABC, and explain discrepancies between the SABC figures and those used by the Sunday Times/TimesLIVE.

Importantly, however, the ombud found that apart from the above-mentioned infractions, the story itself was not in violation of the Press Code. This vindicates the right of the Sunday Times/TimesLIVE to publish stories which are in the public interest, particularly relating to a public institution such as the SABC. We would like to assure our readers that, as a members of the SA Press Council, we remain committed to truthfully reporting news in the country, without fear or favour. Where we make mistakes, we will always be willing to correct those. That is our compact with you, our readers.

The full ombud decision can be found at presscouncilsa.org.za