Nature of the Complaint
Ms Ncube lodged a complaint against Skyz Metro FM accusing the radio station for intellectual theft of property of content that was aired on radio station. Ms Ncube claims that Skyz Metro used material that she shared with Skyz Metro in response to an advertisement flighted by Skyz Metro to independent radio producers.
Ms Ncube says she is digruntled and says the programme aired is almost similar, and everything in the programme, is what she claims she shared with the radio station and believes that this is intellectual theft of property. She says she was never acknowledged as the owner of the production by Skyz Metro.
She says exactly what she shared is what was published and she was not identified as the owner of the content and believes her ideas were used without her consent. Ms Ncube wants Skyz Metro to either engage her directly on the matter and has asked the VMCZ to intervene in necessitating engagement so that the matter can be resolved by both parties.
Procedure: Full Adjudication of the Matter
An adjudication meeting was convened by the Bulawayo Provincial Adjudication Committee of the VMCZ where both parties were invited to make presentations. Ms Ncube highlighted that she responded to an advertisement flighted by Skyz Metro inviting local producers for programmes material. She claims that she was alerted by friends that Skyz Metro had flighted a programme that was similar to what she had submitted. She says she contacted Skyz Metro and was not happy with the response she got from the radio station. In response, Skyz Metro highlighted that the station indeed flighted adverts seeking content from content producers and several applications were received. They conceded that Ms Ncube’s application was one of the many received. Skyz Metro indicated the received applications were rated according to their strength and the applicant with the best pitch was awarded and their work was picked for broadcast. The Media Complaints Committee then requested to provide the winning pitch and Ms Ncube’s pitch. Both the winning pitch and Ms Ncube’s pitch were read at the adjudication meeting and responses and analysis were recorded.
Status: Resolved
After going through the pitches Ms Ncube conceded that both pitches were similar but also conceded that the winning pitch was much stronger than hers and conceded that with the evidence presented she was not proceeding with the case as initially presented. The Provincial Media Complaints Committee however indicated that part of its complaints procedure is to build relations and asked whether Skyz Metro could afford Ms Ncube an opportunity to have her production broadcast with the station. Skyz Metro also indicated that they supported local content producers and acceded to the VMCZ request. The station offered to give Ms Ncube mentorship and guidance on how she can improve her proposal and once the proposal was perfect the radio station offered to broadcast her works at either Skyz Metro or its sister station Breeze FM in Victoria Falls. The parties were to decide on the timelines for the mentorship and the ultimate broadcast of the content. Ms Ncube indicated that she was satisfied with the outcome of the matter.
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