TV and Radio Compliance Consultant
Ofcom’s unprecedented announcement (18 April 2018) that it is opening seven new due impartiality investigations into the RT (formerly Russia Today) channel in the wake of the Skripal poisoning raises several fascinating legal and compliance questions. There has been… Continue
Yes, Caesar did it on 10 January 49BC – Ofcom on Monday of this week (9 April 2108). The significance of this Ofcom move however was not recognised by commentators or the press at the time. Ofcom’s Rubicon was publishing… Continue
It is very difficult to win a judicial review (JR) against an expert regulator like Ofcom so think carefully – very carefully – before starting it. A JR is expensive and time-consuming. So choose your JR prudently. (By the way… Continue
So Ofcom has finally published its consultation on daytime PIN protection (let’s call it DPP for short). It was BSkyB who initially pushed several years ago for a liberalisation of the DPP rules to allow it to show a wider… Continue
Once Ofcom has decided to consider a serious breach of the Code for a sanction, all is not lost. This month I am giving some tips, based on years of experience handling sanctions at Ofcom, on how best a broadcaster… Continue
As the manager at Ofcom who headed its 2016 Offensive language research, I wanted to make a few points about the regulator’s (now) controversial decision to breach the Family At War 1970-2 drama series shown on Talking Pictures TV for a… Continue
As consultant with leading West End media firm, Simons Muirhead, I was privileged last night to be invited on to both the Al Jazeera Arabic and English services (see picture) to seek to explain the great Al Arabiya mystery. Why… Continue
With Ofcom fining the Al Arabiya channel a whopping £120,000 in January 2018 it is more essential than ever for broadcasters to know what to do to avoid an Ofcom sanction. The first and obvious thing is to have good… Continue
Although there is one Ofcom Code breach in today’s Broadcast Bulletin (22 January 2018) I wanted to talk about briefly, I thought I would break with tradition by first saying a few words about an interesting article in The Times… Continue