TV and Radio Compliance Consultant
This is worrying time for broadcasters when they are making numerous programmes – news, current affairs or documentaries – against the clock about this unprecedented and controversial health and economic emergency. When Senior Standards Manager at Ofcom for a decade… Continue
Ofcom have clearly accepted (without admitting it) that they do not have the statutory powers to introduce the new and totally disproportionate rules in Section Two of the Broadcasting Code they originally proposed in August 2019. These would have imposed… Continue
Ofcom’s high profile consultation proposing to impose a new obligation on all TV and radio broadcasters to take due care of all adults participating in all their programmes (except drama) closes on 23 September. (See my previous blog of 9… Continue
Moral panics rarely make good laws or regulation. The tragic death of Steve Dymond (pictured), who committed suicide after taking a lie detector test on the Jeremy Kyle Show, is the latest example. Ofcom is now proposing to introduce rules… Continue
Islamic firebrand Dr Zakir Naik (pictured) of Peace TV – the Wahhabi channel broadcast out of Dubai – has been on the watchlist of Ofcom and the Home Office for several years. But it was only today (21 July 2019)… Continue
Well, not quite…but any explicit sex must be limited and shown late in the schedule. That is the message from three breach findings Ofcom published this week (Bulletin 381) against Channel 5. The broadcaster transmitted three observational documentaries about the… Continue
ONE: The row over the Jeremy Kyle Show will have come as manna from heaven to some ITV executives. Although the show regularly still attracted one of the channel’s highest morning audiences, after fourteen years its lowbrow image and confrontational style have appeared increasingly tired… Continue
The clear message from experts debating the regulation of Big Tech is that the sector needs reform but that the plans to regulate social media more tightly must be realistic and workable. Last night (28 February) I attended and took… Continue
The news that the controversial Russian international broadcaster RT is challenging in court all seven of Ofcom’s recent breach findings against it is a bold move – and important for all UK broadcasters and media lawyers. It was just before… Continue