CA
The content of this post may cause offence to some people. Items regarding to radio stations are in spoilers as they are not particularly relevant.
I'm starting a thread to discuss the Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin and I will aim to provide a summary each issue.
Issue 385, released 27th August 2019:
• Ofcom will not enforce the £200,000 fine on TV-Novosti (licence holders for Russia Today) regarding their programmes concerning the poisoning of Sergei and Yulka Skripal in Salisbury, the armed conflict in Syria and the Ukrainian Government's position on Nazism and its treatment of Roma Gypsies, until legal proceedings regarding their decision have concluded. They will also not have to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings until this date.
• Iqra Bangla, a religious channel for the UK Bengali community, kept promoting a tour of a pilgrimage to Mecca taking place during Ramadan in the programme Journey for Iqra, broadcast at 8pm on March 28th. They said they had no commercial interest in broadcasting the programme, and Ofcom agreed to some extent, but decided that the focus of the programme was focused on the tour and this was not editorially justified.
• ATN Bangla UK, a general entertainment channel broadcasting in Bengali, and Sony Entertainment Television for the South Asian community had too many adverts over a 2-month period on several occasions.
• ATN Bangla UK, the afore-mentioned Bengali-language general entertainment and news channel, are not keeping an adequate backlog of programmes. When Ofcom received a complaint about uncensored violence in March about coverage of the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attacks, ATN Bangla UK could not provide a recording within the 7 day window they were given. When Ofcom asked again for a recording on April 1st, they provided a very low quality nine-minute segment of the hour-long programme they requested. When Ofcom wrote again on April 8th, they received a recording of the full programme eleven days later which was of a poor resolution "due to a fault with [ATN Bangla UK's] compliance recording machine". Upon Ofcom's inspection, the images on the screen were blurred on the video and the scrolling text was, for the most part, illegible. Ofcom found that this was a breach of their Television Licensable Content Service licence.
Notable complaints that were not assessed include:
• Offensive language in Cartoon Network's children's cartoon We Bare Bears
• 18 complaints regarding 26th July's edition of The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan (generally accepted standards)
• Four complaints of racism on August 1st's edition of The Tez O'Clock show
• Racism during Chris Tarrant's Extreme Railways
• Complaints of generally accepted standards during three separate airings of a trailer for Gemma Collins: Diva Forever (presumably her comments about vegetarianism and veganism)
• 112 complaints about generally accepted standards during August 8th's edition of Good Morning Britain
• Crime and disorder during The Best Little Prison in Britain?
• 29 complaints about animal welfare during July 30th's edition of This Morning
• 85 complaints over a period about Love Island
• A complaint about Studio 66 TV being a Participation TV channel
Currently under investigation:
• News on 92 News from 29th May
• Pujya Shyam Sundad Parashar on Aastha TV from 23rd June
• Live: Shootout Pool on Freesports from 6th July
• Beyond Sport on Front Runner from 12th July
• Nick Ferrari on LBC 97.3 FM from 9th July
Privacy complaints currently being investigated:
• 24 Hours in Police Custody on Channel 4 from 8th April
• Gogglebox on Channel 4 from 12th April
Broadcast licence breaches currently under investigation:
• Castletown Radio, licensed by Castletown FM Ltd
In Broadcast Bulletin issue 376 Ofcom announced it would be launching an investigation into an episode of "Catfish: The TV Show" broadcast on MTV on February 24th. This investigation has now been discontinued.
I'm starting a thread to discuss the Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin and I will aim to provide a summary each issue.
Issue 385, released 27th August 2019:
• Ofcom will not enforce the £200,000 fine on TV-Novosti (licence holders for Russia Today) regarding their programmes concerning the poisoning of Sergei and Yulka Skripal in Salisbury, the armed conflict in Syria and the Ukrainian Government's position on Nazism and its treatment of Roma Gypsies, until legal proceedings regarding their decision have concluded. They will also not have to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings until this date.
• Iqra Bangla, a religious channel for the UK Bengali community, kept promoting a tour of a pilgrimage to Mecca taking place during Ramadan in the programme Journey for Iqra, broadcast at 8pm on March 28th. They said they had no commercial interest in broadcasting the programme, and Ofcom agreed to some extent, but decided that the focus of the programme was focused on the tour and this was not editorially justified.
• ATN Bangla UK, a general entertainment channel broadcasting in Bengali, and Sony Entertainment Television for the South Asian community had too many adverts over a 2-month period on several occasions.
• ATN Bangla UK, the afore-mentioned Bengali-language general entertainment and news channel, are not keeping an adequate backlog of programmes. When Ofcom received a complaint about uncensored violence in March about coverage of the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attacks, ATN Bangla UK could not provide a recording within the 7 day window they were given. When Ofcom asked again for a recording on April 1st, they provided a very low quality nine-minute segment of the hour-long programme they requested. When Ofcom wrote again on April 8th, they received a recording of the full programme eleven days later which was of a poor resolution "due to a fault with [ATN Bangla UK's] compliance recording machine". Upon Ofcom's inspection, the images on the screen were blurred on the video and the scrolling text was, for the most part, illegible. Ofcom found that this was a breach of their Television Licensable Content Service licence.
Notable complaints that were not assessed include:
• Offensive language in Cartoon Network's children's cartoon We Bare Bears
• 18 complaints regarding 26th July's edition of The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan (generally accepted standards)
• Four complaints of racism on August 1st's edition of The Tez O'Clock show
• Racism during Chris Tarrant's Extreme Railways
• Complaints of generally accepted standards during three separate airings of a trailer for Gemma Collins: Diva Forever (presumably her comments about vegetarianism and veganism)
• 112 complaints about generally accepted standards during August 8th's edition of Good Morning Britain
• Crime and disorder during The Best Little Prison in Britain?
• 29 complaints about animal welfare during July 30th's edition of This Morning
• 85 complaints over a period about Love Island
• A complaint about Studio 66 TV being a Participation TV channel
Currently under investigation:
• News on 92 News from 29th May
• Pujya Shyam Sundad Parashar on Aastha TV from 23rd June
• Live: Shootout Pool on Freesports from 6th July
• Beyond Sport on Front Runner from 12th July
• Nick Ferrari on LBC 97.3 FM from 9th July
Privacy complaints currently being investigated:
• 24 Hours in Police Custody on Channel 4 from 8th April
• Gogglebox on Channel 4 from 12th April
Broadcast licence breaches currently under investigation:
• Castletown Radio, licensed by Castletown FM Ltd
In Broadcast Bulletin issue 376 Ofcom announced it would be launching an investigation into an episode of "Catfish: The TV Show" broadcast on MTV on February 24th. This investigation has now been discontinued.