P*RN CHANNELS' LICENSES SHOULD BE DENIED

Christian Action has learned with great concern of On-Digital Media's plans to broadcast three p*rn channels in South Africa via the hire of satellite decoders.

PSat, owned by TopTV's parent company, On Digital Media, has applied to ICASA for a licence.

You can read more about this from Gateway Christian News here.

It was wrongly reported by The Rapport on Monday that "there is nothing that the authorities can do about it".

The Christian Action Network was informed by ICASA that they had until today to send a submission and have now done so. CAN also requested that ICASA grant concerned citizens extra time to send in submissions, but this was denied.

CAN submitted that ODM should not be granted a licence for the following reasons:

ICASA's Constitutional Obligations

ICASA has Constitutional obligations to " regulate broadcasting in the public interest" (Section 192 of SA Constitution).

Not in Public Interest

In no way would these porn channels be "in the public interest". P*rn channels with pin codes and so-called locking devices would present very little challenge to an increasingly 'tech savvy' generation.

We have reports from Safeline and the Teddybear Clinic who counselled children who watched porn films screened on E-TV. Some of these children even sexually abused other children as a result.

P*rnography is as addictive and destructive as drugs. Drugs are illegal, p*rn should be too.

No-one would pump sewage into their living rooms, why then should p*rn channels be allowed to pump immoral sewage into people's minds?

"Freedom of expression is not a pre-eminent right"

"Justice Kriegler, in the E-TV vs Mamabolo judgment, said that in South Africa freedom of the media or freedom of expression is not a pre-eminent right, and we have to debate how it relates to other rights of equality and human dignity." (Jody Kollapen, Chair, SA Human Rights Commission, Quarterly Roundtable Series, 2008.)

Protect Women
Not only does p*rnography infringe on the constitutional rights of children to be protected from harm, it also discriminates against the rights of women to dignity and protection from hate speech. P*rnography often depicts women in degrading, humiliating ways and as sex objects - existing only for men's s*xual pleasure. Women are also often called derogatory names and subject to violent acts.

Children's Rights Paramount
In 2010, the Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA) drew up an Internet P*rnography Bill in response to a call from the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs to the Law Reform Commission to look into the possibility of banning p*rnography in the public sphere. The Bill proposes blocking all p*rnography on the internet on Tier 1 Internet Service Provider level (highest national level).

In the Legal Opinion drafted by JASA in support of their proposed Bill, John Smyth, QC, Director of JASA summarised the legal argument for the Bill, " Internet p*rnography is such a readily accessible evil for children, that the Constitutional Court, if the Bill were challenged, would be bound to hold that the Section 28 obligation to protect at all costs the best interests of children would trump the rights to freedom of expression and privacy."

Viewing Porn a "Fringe Right"

JASA further argued, "Notably in the case of De Reuck v Director of Public Prosecutions the Constitutional Court, while dealing with what freedom of expression entails, held, with (regards to p*rnography), that 'expression that is restricted is, for the most part, expression of little value which is found on the periphery of the right and is a form of expression that is not protected as part of the freedom of expression in many democratic societies.' The right to view/possess p*rnography has been regarded (by the Constitutional Court) as peripheral in nature, and thus the [Internet P*rnography] Bill's effect of only limiting a portion of the access to this right must be viewed as even more permissible. It is a fringe right and not at the core of the constitutional right to the freedom of expression."

FPB's statements regarding DSTV's Proposed P*rn Channel in 2010:

Last year The Film and Publications Board (FPB) issued the following press statement ( www.fpb.gov.za ) in response to DSTV's decision not to launch their proposed p*rn channel:

"The Film and Publication Board (FPB) welcomes the decision taken by Multichoice against the possible launch of a p*rnography channel. The decision follows a number of interventions made by the Film and Publication Board and a number of stakeholders (including state institutions and civil society groups) who have the best interests of children at heart. This is indeed victory for the gender and children's rights movement; and members of the public at large. 

"The Film and Publication Amendment Act, 2009 prohibits the distribution/broadcasting of hardcore p*rnography (films classified X18) on public platforms; and makes it very clear that such films should only be distributed via licensed Adult Shops. It is against this legislation that the FPB has in the past few weeks vehemently opposed Multichoice."

'We are elated that the increased possibility of prematurely exposing children to adult content has been eliminated', said Ms Yoliswa Makhasi, Chief Executive Officer of the FPB. 'The launch of this channel would have created a scenario where children could have easily accessed undesirable content,' she continued."

We have been informed that the Film and Publications Board will be engaging with ICASA about the illegality of such p*rn channels.

Sexual Offences Act
According to Section 19 the Sexual Offences Amendment Act 2007, it is a criminal offence to expose a child to any material which meets the definition of p*rn in the Sexual Offences Act. This should surely inform ICASA's licensing decisions and the Broadcasting Code.

We therefore believe that in the light of ICASA's Constitutional obligation and the above legislation cited and Broadcasting Code stipulations, any license applications for p*rn channels in South Africa should be rejected by ICASA.

What You Can Do:

Please urgently write to Minister of Communications, Ms Dina Pule at nthabiseng@doc.gov.za and politely request that ICASA deny On Digital Media's licensing request for three p*rn channels. Please give some of the legal arguments and also explain the harm p*rn causes society including the exploitation and degradation of women. We can send you excellent research.

Please copy in ICASA at consumer@ICASA.org.za. Please do not forward this email.

Also write to On Digital Media & TopTV CEO, Vino Govender at acidrais@toptv.co.za and copy in Melinda Connor, the Publicity Manager at mconnor@toptv.co.za.

Phone-in to Radio 702/Cape Talk - Sunday, 11 December, 8:30pm

Taryn Hodgson will be interviewed regarding this issue by Kate Turkington on "Believe it or Not", Radio 702/Cape Talk this Sunday evening, 8:30pm. Please phone-in with pro-family research and comments: 011 - 506 3588 . You can also SMS your comments to: 31702.

Radio 702 is on both 106 FM and 92.7 FM in the greater Tshwane area, Midrand, or northern Joburg. In parts of the country, night-time medium wave listeners may be able to hear the programmes shared with 567 CapeTalk by tuning to 567 medium wave. This coverage is limited. Listen online here.

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Ephesians 5:11

Africa Christian Action
PO Box 23632
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7735 Cape Town
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Tel: 021-689 4481 
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