New court move against StarSat porn

starsatpornApplication based on ”Scientific evidence’ that pornography harms society

Compiled from reports by Tech Central and mybroadband

The broadcasting of pornography by StarSat (formerly Top TV) is facing a new court challenge from an organisation which says it has scientific evidence that pornography harms society.

Non profit human rights organisation,’Cause for Justice’, has filed papers at the high court in Pretoria asking for a review of a decision by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) in April 2013 to allow StarSat, which is owned by On Digital Media, to offer three pornographic channels. Icasa had previously blocked TopTV’s porn plans in January 2013 after concluding that there is no evidence to demonstrate that pornography is a direct cause of gender-based violence.

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The organisation says: “Cause for Justice is bringing this application out of an honest and sincere concern for the people of South Africa and we are accordingly acting in the public interest. Our application is based on scientifically researched evidence, which shows a conclusive link between exposure to pornography and harm to society. We submit that the risk of harm to society from allowing pornography to be broadcast in South Africa, even in a subscription service environment, far outweighs the potential benefit to be gained by the members of our society from having free access thereto on their television screens.”

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The organisation says that in spite of “overwhelming public opposition” to On Digital Media’s application to broadcast the channels, the authority went ahead and gave it the nod anyway.

A public hearing was held on March 14, 2013. The following organisations made oral submissions: Family Policy Institute; African Christian Democratic Party; Free Society Institute; Doctors For Life; Africa Christian Action; Shofar Christian Church; Free Society Institute; Active for Jesus; and Evergreen Parenting. According to Cause for Justice, 90% of written submissions were opposed to the porn channels, while seven of the nine oral presentations were also opposed.

‘Irrelevant considerations’
It says Icasa’s decision should be set aside because the authority took “irrelevant considerations” into account while ignoring “relevant” ones. It also argues that Icasa committed reviewable errors of law and did not follow a fair administrative process. In addition, the conclusions that Icasa reached were not “rationally connected to the reasons given” or to the information before it”.

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It says that Icasa “failed to get to grips with and deal with four vital issues regarding pornography”. It says these are:

  • Pornography is psychologically harmful to children. “Although Icasa’s authorisation makes provision to protect children from viewing pornographic channels with a Pin mechanism, we submit in our court application that this mechanism does not ensure adequate protection,” it says.
  • Pornography is addictive. “It is a form of sex addiction. It is inseparable from and linked to other forms of sex addiction.”
  • Pornography “incites some men, those who are prone to such things, to commit violence and rape”.
  • Exposure to so-called “soft” porn “creates a desire for viewing progressively more sexually explicit material. In the process pornography desensitises people to rape and gender violence and damages or destroys healthy loving relationships.”

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) was studying court papers filed against its decision to award three adult entertainment content channels to TopTV, now StarSat, the body said on Tuesday. Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka said it was opposing the action by Cause for Justice, reports iolnews.

Cause for Justice’s lawsuit follows a similar application made by Justice Alliance of South Africa (Jasa) in the Western Cape high court in November.

Cause for Justice says it has served the application on Icasa, On Digital Media, Icasa chairman Stephen Mncube, On Digital Media business rescue practitioner Peter van den Steen and communications minister Yunus Carrim.

The organisations’s lawsuit follows a similar application made by Justice Alliance of South Africa (Jasa) in the Western Cape high court in November.

Jasa director John Smyth QC was quoted at the time as saying that Icasa “erred in law in failing to find that the constitutional rights of children were laws of general application which should have trumped the rights of TopTV to freedom of expression”.

“We contend that fixing a watershed time of 8pm flies in the face of common sense, bearing in mind that most teenage children finish their homework at about 8pm and then watch TV for an hour or two before bedtime,” Smyth said.

4 Comments

  1. It is well known that humans are highly addictive beings. The brain gets bored easily so the kinds of activities involved in the addictions become more explicit and weird in order to sustain the addiction and keep the person hooked. The damage to family relationships is catastrophic. The only way to stop the addiction is to remove it and interupt the thoughts and replace the activity with something more life giving. Take hold of your thought life and take responsibility for it. Your life and health depend upon it aswell as the lives you hold most dear to you.

  2. This is disturbing, and even more so given the scourge of rape in this country! But I believe in prayer. God has given us weapons that are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds so let us use those weapons and loose the SOURCE of this scourge remembering that we do not war against flesh and blood but against powers, principalities and evil spirits in high places. As we pray God will raise up the Moses’s, the Daniel’s, the Gideon’s, the Debra’s, the Joseph’s, the Abraham’s, even the King Cyrus’s, to bring change.

  3. Christopher Blackwell

    I would question the claims. I think it depends mainly on the nature of the person watching porn as to what affect has. Most people watching porn do not have any of the problems that porn is accused of causing, therefor I would say leave kit up tooth viewer whether they watch or don’t watch. I really think that personal ad more decisions should be left in the hands or to person and not be decided by either others nor the government. As for sex crimes, simple prosecute and give the hardest possible sentences. Stop blaming everything except the individual for sex crimes, Any man is always fully responsive for anything he does sexually and there is no excise for harming anyone with sex Right now most sex crimes and not handled seriously enough. What consenting adults do with other consenting adults is their business. If one is not consenting, or under age than slap the offender into trial convict and then long term prison sentence

  4. No pornography … period. Nothing needs to be discussed on this topic. This is of Satan’s best work…and it must not be allowed .