TV and Radio Compliance Consultant
John McAndrew (pictured) starts his new job as Director of News Programmes at the BBC this month. One of the important issues he must deal with is impartiality. That the BBC has – or had – a ‘problem’ in this… Continue
It is now a two months since Ofcom took the exceptional step on 31 March 2022 of suspending the broadcasting licence of the small Birmingham-based Sikh channel, KTV. The suspension forced the service off air immediately prior to probable revocation… Continue
This week’s Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin (443) has confirmed the trend. The Bulletin has been on a diet. Compared to Bulletins before the pandemic, there have been fewer Standards decisions published – whether breaches of the Broadcasting Code or other rules,… Continue
Margarita Simonyan, the feisty Editor-in-chief of RT (formerly Russia Today), may increasingly be having second thoughts about starting a legal challenge to Ofcom over its application of the due impartiality rules. In the first ever ruling by the Court of… Continue
A month ago Piers Morgan gave the thumbs up to Ofcom’s high profile ruling clearing him of breaching the Broadcasting Code over his comments about Meghan Markle on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. He acclaimed it as a ringing endorsement of… Continue
The vile racist online abuse directed at penalty takers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after England’s defeat in the Euros final has focussed much needed attention again on the government’s Online Safety Bill, published on 12 May. Most… Continue
Ofcom no longer has a place to hide. It must soon take sides in the increasingly divisive “culture wars” in the UK. This is because the regulator must shortly take a decision on the high profile complaint by Meghan Markle,… Continue
Ofcom’s decision (Bulletin 406) to find China’s state TV station broke fairness and privacy rules by broadcasting the ‘forced confession’ of British former journalist Peter Humphrey (pictured) has thrust the regulator onto the sharp horns of a high profile sanctions… Continue
Ofcom’s decision to find that China’s UK broadcasting channel CGTN breached the impartiality rules on five occasions, and impose a sanction, could not be more timely. It is published (Bulletin 403) when some Western sentiment has turned against Peking in… Continue