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The broadcasting regulator Ofcom imposed a GBP 120,000 fine on ESPN on 2 June 2014, after the sports TV channel failed to meet its targets for providing audio description on its programmes. The channel was meant to provide the service for visually impaired viewers. It includes describing such things as body language, expressions and movements. However, in 2012 it only managed to provide this on 2.3% of programmes instead of the 5% it had agreed to under Condition 9(1) of its licence. It had also missed the target in 2011, as reported in Ofcom’s Broadcast Bulletin of 5 August 2013, leading the regulator...

In a defamation action in the Queen’s Bench Division of the English High Court presided over by Mr Justice Dingemans, it was determined in a judgment given on 9 April 2014 that the broadcaster, Channel 5, and the production company, Endemol UK Limited, were not liable for vile and abusive words used by one contestant against another in the reality television show Big Brother. Although the words were vile and abusive, they were not deemed to be defamatory of the recipient of the verbal attack. During the broadcast on the 25th June 2012, one contestant, Mr McIntyre, was abusive towards another contestant,...

In a decision published on 3 March 2014, Ofcom found that public sector broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), had breached the Ofcom Rules 1.3 and 2.3; namely inappropriate scheduling and a risk of being seen by children, and containing potentially offensive material, by broadcasting a current affairs programme depicting graphic scenes of physical and sexual violence arising during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.: Rule 1.3 states: “Children must be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them”; Rule 2.3 states; “In...

On 6 May 2014, Ofcom found Channel 5 in breach of its guidelines, after the broadcaster repeated a risqué episode of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, in which housemates talked freely about their sexual experiences, during a time when children were watching. Five viewers complained to the watchdog, after the show, which also involved celebrities making “rude food”, was rebroadcast on a Sunday (morning) at 11.30 am. Ofcom said that BARB (Broadcasters Audience Review Board) viewing figures revealed that out of 290,000 viewers, 33,500 had been aged 16 or under, including 8,800 children aged...

In a decision published on 3 February 2014, Ofcom determined that two RT news bulletins had not depicted blogger Mr Eliot Higgins (who has a pseudonym of Brown Moses) unfairly by referring to the footage appearing on his website of Syrian rebel forces carrying out a chemical weapons attack as unauthenticated, without mentioning that Mr Higgins had queried the video’s veracity. RT (formerly known as Russia Today) is a global news and current affairs channel produced in Russia; in the United Kingdom the channel is broadcast on satellite and digital terrestrial platforms. Mr Higgins has a blogging...