BSA finds Shaneel Lal was materially inaccurate

The BSA found:

However, the majority found one comment by rainbow community activist Shaneel Lal was materially inaccurate, and justified a finding of a breach.

Lal said Parker had told her followers that “due to the transgender agenda, cisgender women are being kidnapped, blended and put into meat for human consumption”.

The BSA found viewers “would have perceived Lal’s statement as an assertion of fact, and it had the potential to mislead viewers as to Parker’s perspective”, given Parker had not stated the “transgender agenda” was responsible for the relevant crime.

“The misleading characterisation of Parker’s statement…strayed into the realm of personal attack. It detracted from, rather than contributing to, viewers’ understanding of the issues being discussed – an unfortunate outcome in a broadcast considering such important, topical and contentious issues,” the BSA said.

This is not surprising.

The irony is that the discussion was about limits around freedom of speech, and Lal was saying speech should be more restricted, and Lal then lied about what Parker has said.

They found:

Freedom of expression allows for the criticism of Parker’s publicly expressed views. It is not a tool intended to facilitate the general vilification of an individual. In our view, Lal’s misleading characterisation of Parker’s statement again strayed into the realm of personal attack. It detracted from, rather than contributing to, viewers’ understanding of the issues being discussed – an unfortunate outcome in a broadcast considering such important, topical and contentious issues. For these reasons we consider the harm potentially caused by the statement does justify a restriction on the right to freedom of expression.

Lal argued expression should be less free, and Lal got his wish!

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