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On 21 February 2018, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned two television advertisements on the grounds that they breached the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) rules relating to the protection of children. The decisions provide helpful guidance on alcohol advertising, and advertisements which may be harmful to children. The first television advertisement was for a discount supermarket chain, Aldi Stores Ltd, and formed part of their 2017 Christmas campaign, which featured a computer-generated image of a carrot in a number of parodies of popular films. The advertisement...

On 19 February 2018, Ofcom issued a notable decision on the inclusion of racially offensive language in classic drama series. This adjudication concerns a broadcast by the Licensee, Talking Pictures TV Ltd, an entertainment channel which broadcasts classic films and archive programmes. It is said that the family-run digital channel is watched by two million people a week. The programme complained about - by just one complainant - was an episode of A Family At War, a British period drama series made between 1970 and 1972, about the experiences of a family from Liverpool during the Second World War....

The Editors' Code of Practice, under which the clear majority of Britain’s newspaper, magazine and news website journalists operate, was reviewed in 2017, and changes to it became effective from 1 January 2018. The Code is regarded as the “cornerstone” of the UK press self-regulatory system. Its rules, which are framed by the Editors’ Code of Practice Committee, set standards that the voluntarily subscribing industry members have agreed to maintain. Editors and publishers can be held to account via the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which became the new regulatory body for the...

On 25 January 2018, Ofcom issued a sanction decision concerning Al Arabiya News, which is an Arabic language news and current affairs channel. The Ofcom licence for Al Arabiya News is held by Al Arabiya News Channel FZ-LLC. The issue concerned unfair treatment and unwarranted infringement of privacy in connection with the obtaining of material included in a programme broadcast by Al Arabiya News in February 2016 about an attempt in February and March 2011, by a number of people (including the complainant, Mr Hassan Mashaima) to turn Bahrain from a kingdom into a republic. The programme included...

Following last year’s phase one enquiry by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concerning the proposed merger between 21st Century Fox and Sky Plc (see IRIS 2017-8/26), the CMA has commenced the phase two enquiry, publishing its provisional findings on 23 January 2018. The CMA concluded that Fox taking full control of Sky is not in the public interest due to media plurality concerns. However, the CMA considered that Fox and Sky had a genuine commitment to broadcasting standards in the UK. The CMA observed that the Murdoch Family Trust (MFT) controls Fox and News Corporation (News...