Classic FM’s “Busted!” get’s busted!
Do you remember the “OMG” piece on “Busted” that ran a while back last year? October 21st to be exact?
If you don’t, it was the piece in which the beatiful, creative& industrious *says me all starry eyed* hostess of the show tricked some mathe -Agnes- who was allegedly having an affair with some married guy -her boss Nicholas- into believing that he was HIV-positive. The mathe then proceeded to repeat OMG for what seemed to be an eternity.
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Moving on swiftly, that piece has lit a fire under not just said the hostess’ seat but under Classic FM’s aswell. On Monday, word broke out that the recording was proven to be fake.
In the assesment of the Media Council of Kenya, Ciku was casual, reckless and negligent.While being cross-examined by the commission, Ciku ”admitted that sometimes she could fabricate a story and does not rely on a real story to ‘bust’ a spouse, and therefore creates an entire fictional account of ‘busted’.”
”She stated that she understood that the tenets of journalism were to entertain, educate and inform. She stated that she was not familiar with the Code of Conduct for the practise of journalism,” MCK quoted her as saying.
Classic FM which is owned by Radio Africa Group Ltd, was ordered to pay the fine within 14 days.Classic FM was fined Sh800,000 which it was mandated to pay to the Media Council Complaints Commission. The commission found the radio station guilty of discussing and exposing an individual’s HIV status on air without seeking his consent.
For those of you not familiar with the concept of the show, the hostess simply creates a scenario (bends the truth a little) to pull a Joey Greco on unfaithful people. It would seem that the Media Council Complaints Commission want to set an example so whether or not the hostess actually exposed an individual’s HIV status on air without seeking his consent or fabricated the whole scenario is immaterial.
The complaint was lodged by a non-governmental organisation, which argued that even though it was not true that the person referred to was infected with HIV, the broadcast was in disregard to the right to privacy and confidentiality of people living with the disease. The nightare doesn’t end there as the complainant was also advised to lodge a complaint with the Equity Tribunal to initiate the necessary criminal proceedings should it find that the radio station and the host of the programme committed offences which loosely translates to more litigation fees& fines.
