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On 19 July 2017, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Khuja (formerly PNM) v Times, on whether an injunction should be granted preventing the media from identifying an individual who had been named in open court during criminal proceedings. Mr Khuja was arrested on the basis of a witness statement that someone with the same commonly used first name as Mr Khuja was involved in sexual offences against children. The witness failed to identify Mr Khuja at an identity parade. Mr Khuja was not charged, although others were. At their trial, evidence was given stating that someone with the same...

A Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed setting out the relations between the UK Government, the Scottish Government and Parliament, and Ofcom, the UK communications regulator. The background to this was the Smith Commission report on further devolution to Scotland in 2014, which recommended that the power to approve Ofcom appointments to the board of MG Alba, the Gaelic language media service, should rest solely with the Scottish Ministers, not with UK ministers. It also proposed a formal consultative role for the Scottish Government and Parliament in setting priorities for Ofcom in Scotland,...

On 1 May 2017, the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee published its report concerning how social media companies, including YouTube, Google, and Twitter, were policing their sites and taking suitable action to remove illegal content that constituted a hate crime. The Committee concluded that overall the social media companies were “shamefully far” from tackling illegal and dangerous content. The Committee recommended that the Government consult on stronger laws and a system of fines for companies failing to remove illegal content. The Committee’s enquiry was announced in July 2016 following...

Karen Bradley, government minister serving as Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport, has announced that after an 18-month review, public service broadcaster (PSB) Channel 4 will not be privatised and will remain in public ownership. The terrestrial channel was launched in 1982 to provide greater diversity and appealing to tastes and interests not normally catered by the other independent terrestrial channel ITV, launched in 1955. Both ITV and Channel 4 are funded primarily through advertising, and in the case of Channel 4 profits are reinvested into programme making. Channel 4 has helped...

On 24 April 2017, Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, issued a Note to broadcasters on election programming for the General Election taking place on 8 June 2017. It follows Ofcom’s statement in 9 March 2017 that it had amended its rules relating to coverage of elections with new rules in relation to party broadcasts and rules applying to the BBC for the first time (see IRIS 2017-5/6). The Note reminds broadcasters that Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code requires that the coverage of elections and referendums complies with rules requiring due impartiality and a number of other special provisions. In...