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Channel 4 News broadcast an item on 6 March 2014 concerning possible corruption in the London Metropolitan Police (MPS), as well as, in another situation, the role of undercover policing. The item involved, to a small extent, a reporter conducting “vox-pop” interviews with five individuals in an area of South London, defined as “recorded interviews with members of the public talking informally in public places about particular topics.” The (London) Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) complained to Ofcom that the item was neither duly accurate nor duly impartial (the MPS, additionally, complained...

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, has determined that RT (formerly known as Russia Today) breached Ofcom’s rules on accuracy and impartiality in four news bulletins on the situation in Ukraine during March 2014. In a detailed 40-page decision, Ofcom concluded that in light of previous breaches (see IRIS 2014-2/22), the broadcaster is now being put “on notice” that any further breaches may result in further regulatory action, including statutory sanctions. RT is a global news and current affairs channel produced in Russia and broadcast on satellite and digital terrestrial platforms in the...

Ofcom has a statutory duty pursuant to the Communications Act 2003 to set standards for broadcast content as appear to it best calculated to secure the standards objectives, one of which is that “persons under the age of eighteen are protected”. This is also reflected in Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code. As such, the early morning broadcast on BBC’s Radio 1’s breakfast show of a song that included in the lyrics the word “fuck” was in breach of the Code, as children were most likely to be listening at that time. BBC Radio 1’s show “Breakfast with Nick Grimshaw” played at about 7:55 a.m. a session recording...

The rights to broadcast the matches in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, are of an extraordinary value to broadcasters. They are sold as a package by the Premier League. In November 2014, following a complaint by Virgin Media, Ofcom, the UK Communications Regulator, commenced an investigation on whether the arrangements for the packaging of the rights constitutes a restriction or distortion of competition in breach of the Competition Act 1998 and/or Art. 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). An invitation to tender was issued by the Premier League...

On 5 January 2015, Ofcom published its decision holding that ITV’s Meridian News (covering south and south east England) had not caused an unwarranted infringement of Mrs Diane Ash-Smith’s privacy during a live news broadcast that disclosed her full address and showed footage of her car registration number, in relation to a murder enquiry of which her son, Colin Ash-Smith, was a suspect. Ofcom did not consider the Meridian News had breached Practice rules 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 or 8.6 of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code of Conduct. Colin Ash-Smith had in 1993 been a suspect in a murder inquiry concerning the death...