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On 10 May 2018 the BBC Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) delivered its decision on the portrayal of the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, in a current affairs programme on UK/Russian relations. Following an incident in the English town of Salisbury (an ex-Russian KGB officer had been allegedly attacked with a nerve agent) and a subsequent House of Commons appearance on the matter by Mr Corbyn, BBC’s Newsnight programme presented a studio discussion about his position. 48 people complained to the ECU that the studio’s backdrop had been deliberately contrived to convey an impression of pro-Russian...

On 18 April 2018, in a notable 18-page report, Ofcom announced that it has opened seven new investigations into the observance of due impartiality by the television channel RT News, which is licensed by the regulator through ANO TV Novosti. The investigations concern RT’s alleged conduct since the occurrence of an incident in Salisbury, England on 4 March 2018, when Sergei Skripal and his daughter, suffered injury arising from an unlawful assault (possibly carried out with a nerve agent). The British Government asserted in an announcement on 14 March 2018 that “this represented an unlawful use...

On 5 April 2018, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), one of the two UK press self-regulatory bodies, issued a notable decision on accuracy in news reporting. The decision concerned a complaint made by an East London local authority, Tower Hamlets Borough Council, about an article the Times newspaper headlined “Judge rules child must leave Muslim foster home”, part of a series dealing with fostering arrangements. The sub-headline referred to the judge praising the newspaper for “exposing council’s failure” and stated that “the judge ordered the council to conduct an urgent investigation...

On 23 April 2018, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, issued a notable decision on the promotion of homeopathic medicine on television, finding that the programme failed to advise the audience to also seek independent medical advice. The decision concerned the Sikh Channel, which is a faith and cultural television channel. It broadcasts in Punjabi and English. The Sikh Channel Community Broadcasting Company Limited, registered in Birmingham, England, is the licensee. A viewer complained about a show, Live: Herbal Medicine, aired in June 2017. Although the channel broadcasts in English and Punjabi,...

The Ofcom Broadcasting Code now applies to the BBC and complaints of breaches are considered by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator (see IRIS 2017-5/23). Two complaints were made by leading scientists about an interview on climate change with Lord Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, a leading climate change sceptic, on the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs radio programme, Today. The complainants considered that the BBC had breached the Code’s requirements of due accuracy and due impartiality in news and that significant mistakes in news should normally be acknowledged and corrected...