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Viewer complaint upheld over MATV debate

MATV
MATV

A viewer’s complaint has been upheld by Ofcom after a guest made slanderous comments about him on a show broadcast on MATV aired in November 2013.

This discussion programme, which was broadcast live, featured a guest speaker Mr Jaswant Singh who, at the time of the broadcast, was the Chairman of the Miri Piri
Gurdwara in Southall, west London. During the programme, Mr Sukhwinder Singh (the complainant) called the programme to discuss the ownership of the Gurdwarda. At the conclusion of his call, Mr Jaswant Singh commented: ���This Sukhwinder Singh has been banned from the Guru�۪s House�۝ and that the ban had been imposed ���By the high Court�۝.

In response to both heads of complaint, MATV said that at the time the complaint was made, there had been an ongoing legal dispute regarding the ownership of the Gurdwara. It said that the High Court had granted 66 per cent ownership of the Gurdwara to Mr Jaswant Singh. MATV also said that there were other legal issues in dispute, including Mr Sukhwinder Singh being ���restrained from going to the Gurdwara�۝.

Given the serious nature of the allegation made, we considered that the broadcaster should have ensured that Mr Sukhwinder Singh was given an appropriate opportunity to respond to Mr
Jaswant Singh�۪s comments. Mr Sukhwinder Singh told Ofcom that he had repeatedly asked to be put through to the presenter so that he could explain that he had not been banned from the Gurdwara. It therefore appeared that he had made the programme makers clearly aware that he was available and had wanted to give his view on the matter. Ofcom therefore considered that it was open to the broadcaster to have provided this opportunity had it chosen to. The broadcaster�۪s failure in this instance to follow Practice 7.11 to give Mr Sukhwinder Singh an opportunity to respond to the allegation made by Mr Jaswant Singh resulted in unfairness to the complainant.

Taking the above factors into account, Ofcom considered that Mr Sukhwinder Singh was treated unfairly in the programme as broadcast.