DATE OF HEARING: 28 NOVEMBER 2012 JUDGMENT RELEASE DATE: 14 DECEMBER 2012 AGULHAS CASE NUMBER: 60/2012 COMPLAINANT vs TopTV RESPONDENT TRIBUNAL: PROF JCW VAN ROOYEN SC (CHAIRPERSON) ADV B MMUSINYANE PROF S LÖTTER (CO-OPTED) The Complainant was invited but was unable to attend. For the Respondent: Mmabatho Kau, Channel Manager: Top ONE accompanied by Elvis Mudau, Programme Acceptance Officer. Religion satire not denigrating Jesus and not amounting to hate speech based on religion Agulhas vs TopTV Case No: 60/2012(BCCSA). SUMMARY The Registrar received a complaint concerning an insert in a news programme that, inter alia, consists of humorous and satirical perspectives of the news by way of puppets resembling the characters portrayed. Given the sensitive nature of one of the items, which satirised a recently discovered fourth-century Coptic text stating that Jesus had been married, the matter was referred to a Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the item did not qualify as hate speech based on religion, as defined in the Code. The Tribunal reasoned as follows: The TopTV news item does not denigrate Jesus. In fact, the Jesus puppet remains silent when his wife accuses him of poor wine-making, messing in the bathroom while trying to walk on water and that he should tell Mary Magdalene to stop calling him. The
wife is portrayed as a modern-day woman who smokes and drinks; she is also a foolish, nagging wife. Nothing that she says in the programme is in any way impressive. It is in fact she who is the object of the satire. Whilst realising that any such portrayal of religious figures may be offensive to some Christians, we do not believe that the religious figure of Jesus Christ is denigrated in any manner. The complaint was, accordingly, not upheld. PROF JCW VAN ROOYEN SC JUDGMENT [1] The Registrar received a complaint concerning an insert in a news programme which consists of humorous and satirical perspectives on the news by employing puppets resembling the characters in the news items. The style is said to be based on caricatures such as those of the well-known cartoonist, Zapiro. Given the sensitive nature of one of the items, which satirised a recently discovered fourth-century Coptic text stating that Jesus had been married, I referred the matter to a Tribunal. [2] The Complaint reads as follows: RE: ZA NEWS ON TOPTV SHOWING JESUS LIVING WITH A DRINKING LADY Please allow me to express my disgust at TopTV for airing an episode of ZA-NEWS in which Jesus was openly mocked. They show that Jesus lives with a lady and openly mocking at my saviour, Jesus. Also, we all know that Jesus lived without sin and He was never married or living with a lady. This 'Black Jesus' of ZA-NEWS was portrayed as a person who lives with this boozing lady and the lady was very disrespectful. I know that ZA-NEWS wants to entertain us with satire, and I love watching some of their shows. BUT this time they went too far and I felt so much hurt as they (ZA-NEWS and TopTV) openly mocked at Jesus. Also, I could not see where this clip fitted into their wonderful show, prior to that point. Sometimes I feel that the media is going too far to mock at my Jesus and that they (media) know that the Christians won't protest over it. They know what will happen if they mock at the Muslim's prophet Mohammed. Please, BCCSA, I feel that TopTV and ZA-NEWS needs to apologise to us Christians. I FELT VERY OFFENDED. I don t have the exact time of the show. What I do know is that it was aired on Tuesday, 02 October 2012, late in the evening. The show is called, ZA News.
What I hate about many productions is that they easily make a mockery of Christianity, more particularly Jesus. It is a pity that we Christians don't stand up against blasphemy. These people are so scared to mention anything that represents Islam. I do not say that they should instead mock Islam. It will be wrong. These so-called satirist instead makes fun of Jesus because don't know that the Christian population won't retaliate. They must know where to draw the line. a pity such a good program was spoiled with such a distasteful clip. [3] The broadcaster responded as follows: COMPLAINT: ZANEWS on TopTV showing Jesus living with a drinking lady. We refer to the complaint from Gabriel Agulhas dated 03 October 2012 regarding the programme ZANEWS Episode 08 which premiered on Sunday the 30 th September 2012 at 21h00 and repeated twice on Tuesday the 02 nd October 2012 at 20h30 and again 23h30 on channel 100 (Top ONE). APPLICATION TO FACTS: ZANEWS is an episodic satire programme based on the characters of Zapiro caricature sketches that are then molded into clay marquettes to be set as latex heads. Each character s distinguishing features are emphasized in the manner as they have been in Zapiro s cartoons. The characters consist predominantly of South African politicians with a number of international celebrities and sports personalities, namely individuals that would be likely to feature in the general news; the show is therefore structured as such. Tim Modise and Debora Patta are news anchors, assisted by a ZA News team of investigative journalists and special sports and entertainment correspondents. Some of the politicians and celebrities that feature include Barack and Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Khulubuse Zuma, Steve Hofmeyr, Helen Zille, Jacob Zuma, Bheki Cele, Benni McCarthy, Peter de Villiers, Julius Malema, Robert Mugabe, Bill Clinton, Patricia de Lille, Thabo Mbeki, Winnie Mandela, Zwelinzima Vavi, Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande, Desmond Tutu, Nelson, Khanyi Mbau, Tokyo Sexwale, Gareth Cliff, Lady Justice, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Separated from the news show are the regular Tata and Tutu sketches which involves Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu discussing the events of the day but also offering their unique wisdom and humour about these current events. An audible audience advisory was flighted prior to the commencement of the programme and a visual banner audience advisory showing the classification of the programme as 16-L also appeared on the screen at the beginning of the programme for five (5) minutes. The audience advisory was provided to assist parents to make an informed choice as to the suitability of the material for themselves and their family members. There is also an eighteen (18) seconds on-screen disclaimer board with a voice over at the start of programme which reads What you are about to see is not real news. It is satire based on real news. The characters you are about to see are not real life humans. They are frighteningly realistic puppets based on real life humans. The views expressed in the show are not necessarily those of TopTV, its sponsors, its advertiser or the nice lady that makes the coffee. We had an on-screen EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) which is accessible by pressing the INFO button on the TopTV remote. The EPG read as follows: ZANEWS pairs up Helen Zille and
Julius Malema for a hit dance track, Gareth Cliff and Steve Hofmeyr for a braaimance and Jesus with a significant other. Watch Mugabe get flushed and Juju do the laundry. The "Mrs Jesus" sketch was inspired by a real news item that made international headlines in the weekly news cycle. Harvard divinity professor, Karen King, unveiled a 4th-Century Coptic script at a conference in Rome in which she said researchers had identified the words "Jesus said to them 'my wife". The headline was widely reported on globally and our team decided to imagine what it might be like to be married to Jesus. The sketch in no way mocks or belittles the historical figure of Jesus. In fact we had him with a halo, dressed in white and he said nothing at all. Also at the end of the sketch Debora Patta says that she didn't believe the story either. On these grounds we feel that the viewer might have misinterpreted the script and must have been unaware of the headline about the Coptic script. The scene in question doesn t violate clause 10.2 and 10.3 of the BCCSA Code of Conduct for Subscription Broadcasting Service Licensees as it is a bona fide artistic expression. It doesn t incite any violence or hatred towards the Christian religion nor its followers. CONCLUSION In conclusion, TopTV values and respects our subscribers. We strive not to broadcast programmes that advocate hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion and which constitutes incitement to cause harm. We take the protection of children from exposure to potentially disturbing, harmful or age-inappropriate materials seriously and we strive to continuously improve our service. We trust that you find the above in order. Evaluation [4] We are aware of widely held Christian sensitivities in regard to the portrayal of Jesus as a married man or a man who may have had sexual inclinations. This sensitivity has especially come to the fore in regard to films such as Jesus Christ Superstar and The Last Temptation of Christ. The original bans on both these films have been lifted in South Africa, in 1983 and 1999 respectively, although the Film and Publication Board has not pronounced finally on whether the latter film may be screened in theatres. The Board did however permit the latter film to be distributed by way of DVD and video in 1999, though theatre screenings were not permitted. Before an appeal could be lodged, the international distributors withdrew the distribution of the film in so far as theatres were concerned. The BCCSA Appeal Tribunal 1 has, however, held that a late evening broadcast of the film by e.tv was permissible because Jesus was not portrayed as giving in to the temptation of marriage or sex. The film was also of particular dramatic merit. 1 Case No: 17/2007 JOL 20585 (BCTSA)
[5] The recently discovered Coptic text is, of course, interesting. This is, however, not the first time that it has been argued that Jesus had been married. Nevertheless, this is not the core of the present complaint. The complaint is that Jesus is denigrated by what the puppet figure his wife says to the figure of Jesus. 2 In our view, the TopTV news item in no way denigrates Jesus. In fact, the Jesus figure remains absolutely silent when his wife accuses him of wine-making and also implies that he is having a relationship with Mary Magdalene, who regularly contacts him, according to the wife. The wife is portrayed as a modern woman who smokes and drinks; she is obviously also a nagging, foolish woman. Nothing that she says is in any way impressive. Whilst realising that any portrayal of Jesus in such a setting may be offensive to many Christians, we do not believe that the religious figure of Jesus Christ is denigrated Ultimately the reaction of the two presenters after the item was particularly relevant: they both obviously thought that the item was too ridiculous to be true. [6] We are, finally, of the view that the advocacy of hatred based on religion as required by the Broadcasting Code for a finding of hate speech is not present. We say this with a full understanding of and respect for the complainant s feelings. We should also add that it is the task of the Tribunal to decide whether material as broadcast contravenes the Code; it is not the task of the Tribunal to decide whether it approves of material that is broadcast. The complaint is not upheld. PROF JCW VAN ROOYEN SC CHAIRPERSON Commissioner Mmusinyane and Co-opted Commissioner Lötter agreed with the judgment of the Chairperson. 2 Compare Baigent and Leigh The Holy Blood Holy Grail (1982)