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| National |
| Censors against Big Brother ban |
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by
Aubrey Mchulu, 07 August 2003
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11:28:15
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The Malawi Classification Board said on Wednesday it is against the decision by Parliament to ban Television Malawi from broadcasting the reality TV show Big Brother Africa (BBA), saying the way forward should have been to reschedule the show to late hours.
The Board’s censoring officer Humphrey Mpondaminga, who said the Board was “over-flooded with enquiries on the ban” on Wednesday, said in an interview that the BBA show on TVM was classified at 16 for people aged 16 and above.
“We don’t welcome the decision to ban the Big Brother show because if you compare what’s shown in Big Brother and what’s in some movies, the material is the same and we should therefore ban them all and only have U-rated films for everyone,” he said.
Parliament on Tuesday imposed an immediate ban on the show, saying it is regarded as immoral by most Malawians but Information Minister Bernard Chisale, while saying he was also against the TV programme, warned the legislators that their rushed decision may have legal and financial complications on the public broadcaster.
Mpondaminga said the Board and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) will meet to review previous BBA programmes shown on TVM and issue a statement.
He said Parliament should have asked TVM to consider changing the time of the show from 6 PM to around 9 PM so that only adults can watch the reality show like it is the case with another late night series, Super Story, on the same channel.
But Mpondaminga also observed that the problem in Malawi is that most parents and guardians do not understand issues of classification such that they expose children to X-rated materials which, he said, is dangerous.
TVM Director of Productions Victor Mphande said the station was yet to hear from the Ministry of Information and, responding to a question on the implications on the contract with MultiChoice, he said “whatever agreements on the deal were made by the two parties” who can always go back to the drawing board.
He said the station put up the programme with the hope of pleasing viewers and it is unfortunate that many are said to be not amused.
“That’s natural because obviously you can’t please all the people all the time,” he said.
Zambia and Nigeria are some of the countries where the majority of the people, particularly the clergy, are said to be against showing the reality TV show on national TV stations because of sex and nudity scenes. |
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