TV and Radio Compliance Consultant
This issue was highlighted by the recent Ofcom decision to order Channel 4 News to broadcast a summary of its determination that the programme had seriously breached Rule 5.1 of the Broadcasting Code (lack of due accuracy in news).
No – they are not hunting for an Ofcom decision on the BBC and due impartiality – but for snails. They might as well have been hunting for that elusive Ofcom published decision though because there have not been any.
Ofcom has just extended the categories by deciding for the first time that humiliating someone because of their obesity was a breach of this rule. See Bulletin 336, published 11 September 2017.
Poor CNN International – and with them all TV news broadcasters. Taking decisions about what violent material to show and when are some of the toughest calls they have to make.
While you were away on holiday you may not have noticed that the issue of children’s exposure to gambling adverts exploded into the headlines again. The amount spend on TV gambling adverts last year jumped by 43% to £150 million compared to 2012.
TAKE CAREFUL NOTE OF THE NEW GUIDANCE ON RULE 2.1. This is especially so if you a religious channel which might talk about faith healing or a service which features alternative medicine.
Ofcom publishes Guidance online to supplement the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. It is important and regularly updated. Although allegedly only Guidance, Ofcom must take account of it when applying the Code. So always be alert to changes to Ofcom Guidance and… Continue
FIRST – Ofcom has new powers to revoke licences of radio stations that broadcast terrorist material. This week saw Ofcom use for the first time its powers to suspend and then close down a radio station for serious breaches of the Broadcasting Code.
Has Ofcom increased the liability of broadcasters for the most offensive language? That may be the implication of the Resolved finding against Channel 5 for an edition of the ‘Wright Stuff’ published in today’s Ofcom Bulletin.