Phat Joe ‘guilty of being shocking’

EAST Coast Radio came in for criticism but escaped sanctions following findings by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa that DJ Phat Joe did not violate the broadcasting code with his “offensive” content which angered some listeners.

At least six of the station’s listeners – who did not attend the hearing – had written to the commission to complain. Some remain unhappy and feel the commission had missed the point of their complaint.

Their gripe centred on the allegations that Phat Joe had discussed inappropriate topics such as tattooing a baby, serial rape, and the condoning of affairs during his drive time show between 3pm and 6pm.

The tribunal found the presenter’s utterances were of a ridiculous, bizarre and nonsensical nature, thereby strongly suggesting they fell under the ambit of humour.

“The broadcaster argued the mandate given to the presenter was to ‘shake things up’. To be edgy, controversial.

“In essence, he was afforded the status of being a ‘shock jock’,” said the commission.

“The content and the context in which the comments were aired are clear indicators of the non-serious thrust adopted by the presenter.”

The tribunal found no breach of the provisions of the code.

The commissioner, however, lashed the East Coast management for its failure to deal with the issue when it was clear the topic of tattooing a baby had spun out of hand.

The management had shut it down 24 hours after it started. The issue was initially meant to run for a week before being revealed as a prank.

“Management at the station ought be more circumspect and prompt in detecting on-air content that has the potential to prove problematic if left unattended to for an inordinate period of time.

“It is the view of the tribunal that even the 24-hour time span for the baby tattooing item was far too long.

“It should have been brought to an end the very same afternoon,” said the tribunal.