Legal
Services
Latest News
| |
Bringing you regular news of key developments in broadcasting regulation.
DCMS
New framework for local TV
Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has published a new framework for local TV, which will allow local television services to be created across the UK. The number of local TV services that will emerge is subject to spectrum coverage and commercial sustainability. The Government also intends to secure appropriate prominence for local TV services on electronic programme guides. DCMS is currently consulting on the legislation arising from the local TV framework; the consultation is open until 23 September 2011.
DCMS consultation
OFCOM
Appeal dismissed: HM The Queen on the application of Jon Gaunt v. Ofcom [2011] EWCA Civ 692
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by “shock jock” Jon Gaunt. Ofcom had found that talkSPORT’s broadcast of an interview that he conducted in 2008 breached the Ofcom Broadcasting Code (Code). He had applied to quash the finding, but the Divisional Court dismissed his application and Gaunt then appealed against the dismissal. Gaunt argued that Ofcom’s finding disproportionately interfered with his freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that Ofcom had clearly been right to conclude that the interview breached the Code, in light of Gaunt’s extremely aggressive tone in the interview, his constant interruptions of the interviewee, his “ranting”, the lack of any substantive content and the time for which the interview was allowed to run on. This decision is notable because the case brought by Gaunt is the first judicial review that Ofcom has faced on an issue of broadcast content and standards since Ofcom came into being in 2003.
Judgment
On-air references to websites directly linked to “apps” for paid-for viewer participation and interaction
Ofcom is proposing (subject to comments from broadcasters) to start a pilot scheme that would allow broadcasters not only to refer to an app within programming as a means of paid-for viewer participation or interaction, but also to include references to directly linked website interfaces or webpages as an alternative route by which viewers can pay for the participation or interaction. The pilot period would run from 22 August 2011 to 21 August 2012. As a safeguard, Ofcom proposes that broadcasters will only be able to do so where there are also entry routes for premium-rate services, and third-party verification would therefore apply across all routes. The scheme would not, however, permit on-air references to viewers’ ability to pay for participation or interaction in programmes through self-standing websites that are not directly linked to apps for these purposes. Likewise, nor would it permit references to other independently existing payment methods, such as credit or debit cards.
Ofcom note to broadcasters
Promotion in programmes: Cool Stuff Collective, CITV & ITV1, February & March 2011
While it is understandable that children’s TV presenters should have a fun, entertaining and enthusiastic presentation style, this will not be sufficient to justify frequent and very positive comments about featured products. In programmes that are designed to show children products of interest in a fun manner, care must therefore be taken to balance positive comments about a product with negative or critical comments, or comparisons between products.
Ofcom’s decision
Promotion and undue prominence: Central Tonight, ITV1 (Central), 2 May 2011
The Code was breached by the use in a news item of language such as “the AA of the waterways”, “the only company in the country offering breakdown cover for boaters” and “River Canal Rescue … have more than 400 engineers on call across the country, covering 3,000 miles of waterway, 24 hours a day”. The report was intended to address “narrowboating, the safety issues it can raise and the unique work a local company [River Canal Rescue] does in [the] area” and to celebrate River Canal Rescue’s tenth anniversary. Ofcom found, however, that the language used to describe River Canal Rescue was typical of language generally used for promotional purposes and, accordingly, it breached the Code prohibition on the promotion of products and services in programmes. The references to River Canal Rescue also caused the programme to contravene the Code’s prohibition of giving undue prominence to a product or service.
Ofcom’s decision
Life-changing advice: Psychic Sally – On the Road, Sky Livingit, 17 April 2011
The Code requires that demonstrations of exorcism, the occult, the paranormal, divination or practices related to any of these must not contain life-changing advice directed at individuals. In this episode of Psychic Sally: On the Road, the Code was breached by psychic, Sally Morgan, making a direct and categorical statement about a young woman’s health, having discussed the woman’s mother’s illness and subsequent death. She said to the woman: “There is nothing within you, genetically, that you need to panic about healthwise.” The direct and certain nature of this comment and its delivery could have resulted in the young woman’s reasonably acting or relying on it and was therefore considered by Ofcom to be “life-changing advice” and in breach of the Code.
Ofcom’s decision
Offensive language: Hell’s Kitchen USA, ITV2, 18 April 2011
Despite a 9.00 p.m., post-watershed slot, and the fact that Gordon Ramsay has a well-established reputation for using the “f” word, Ofcom found that this edition of Hell’s Kitchen USA breached the Code. It featured no fewer than 47 usages of the “f” word, 18 of which were broadcast in the first, 11 minute segment of the programme. This decision serves as a reminder that the transition to post-watershed must not be unduly abrupt.
Ofcom’s decision
Fairness: Complaint by Trust Inheritance, Rip Off Britain, BBC1, 7 December 2010
It was unfair to a will-writing company, Trust Inheritance, not to put to it in advance of the broadcast of an edition of BBC1’s consumer affairs programme, Rip Off Britain, an allegation that it had “ripped off” an individual. This was a significant allegation, to which Trust Inheritance should have been given an opportunity to respond. Although Trust Inheritance was not actually named in the programme, paperwork was shown which was clearly identifiable as Trust Inheritance’s product, and part of the company’s address was visible briefly. In Ofcom’s view, this rendered Trust Inheritance identifiable.
Ofcom’s decision
Fairness & privacy: Complaint by Mrs Gwen Weir, BBC Spotlight, BBC1 South West and BBC South Today, BBC1 South, 28 June 2010
Mr John Higgins ran a campaign to try to stop underage drinking among young people celebrating their exams. Two news reports about this featured footage of Mr Higgins meeting and speaking with Mrs Weir and her husband in front of their hotel in Newquay, followed by Mr Higgins’ reflections on that meeting. As shown in the reports, however, Mrs Weir’s conversation with Mr Higgins was unfairly edited, in that it did not reflect her position as expressed in her full conversation with Mr Higgins. Her privacy was also infringed in both the making and the broadcast of the reports, because audio of her was recorded and broadcast without her knowledge or consent, and in circumstances where the reporter had indicated to her at the time of filming that he was not recording for sound. Ofcom considered that any public interest in broadcasting Mrs Weir’s comments to illustrate concerns raised by local business people did not outweigh her expectation of privacy.
Ofcom’s decision
BBC Trust
Serious failings in the making of a programme: Panorama: Primark – On the Rack, BBC One, 23 June 2008
In a damning finding for the BBC’s flagship investigative programme, Panorama, the BBC Trust has found serious breaches of the accuracy and fairness editorial guidelines. It was likely that footage in an episode of Panorama which showed three young boys in a Bangalore workshop was not authentic. The activity being carried out by the boys did not appear to be genuine, and it transpired that the freelance journalist who had supplied the footage had been given little or no guidance on secret filming or on how to record his approach to the filming and the evidence obtained, in a way which would ensure that the footage he obtained could be verified by the programme team. As a result, the contemporaneous evidence that he supplied was of little use as it contained inconsistencies. In any event, it was not adequately scrutinised by the programme team. This is not the first time that an investigative journalism programme has fallen foul of a regulator for authenticity issues: in 1999 the ITC fined Carlton £2 million (at the time, the highest fine ever imposed on a broadcaster) for faking scenes in “The Connection”, a documentary about drug-running.
BBC Trust finding
For further information, please contact:
Eleanor Steyn
353
Simkins' early warning bulletins are for general guidance only. Legal advice should be sought before taking action in relation to specific matters. Where reference is made to Court decisions facts referred to are those reported as found by the Court. Please note that past bulletins included in the Archive have not been updated by any subsequent changes in statute or case law.
<< back to articles & bulletins
|
|