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On 11 January 2012 the English High Court overturned a decision by the Justice Minister preventing the BBC from interviewing a suspected terrorist who has been held in prison for seven years without trial. Babar Ahmad has been held in prison pending extradition to the United States since 2004, and is currently awaiting a final decision on his case by the European Court of Human Rights, which had ruled in 2007 that he should not be extradited until it had considered his application. The BBC and a journalist had sought permission to interview him in prison; this was originally granted but with audio...

On 1 February 2012, the UK Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD) published a determination that the web-based on-demand adult programme service Bootybox.tv had breached statutory rules requiring video on demand providers to ensure that under 18s cannot normally access hardcore pornographic content. Bootybox.tv had been notified to the ATVOD as having been available since November 2010. The service provider described its content as “generic and mostly BBFC compliant UK porn available on-line”. On 26 June 2011, a parent complained that a son had used this service and other web based services...

The Government of Gibraltar has made regulations transposing the Audiovisual Media Services Directive into the Law of Gibraltar. This follows a reasoned opinion from the Commission at the end of 2011 requesting the UK Government to secure such implementation; Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory that governs its own internal affairs, with some matters - such as foreign relations - remaining the responsibility of the UK Government. The Audiovisual Media Services Regulations, made under the Interpretation and General Clauses Act, took effect on 20 October 2011. They state that they apply to...

The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the UK communications regulator, has imposed a fine of GBP 100,000 on Press TV, an Iranian news channel broadcasting in English on the Sky platform under a Television Licensable Content Service licence issued by Ofcom. The fine was for breach of provisions of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code requiring broadcasters to avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations in programmes and that any infringement of privacy in programmes must be warranted (Rules 7.1 and 8.1). The case concerned a broadcast in July 2009 by Press TV of a news item concerning...

The BBC Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee has found that fifteen programmes broadcast on BBC World News breached its editorial and/or sponsorship guidelines. BBC World News is the commercial channel available across Europe and much of the world; unlike the BBC’s domestic services, it carries advertising. All the programmes involved had been acquired by the BBC at no or minimal cost from independent producers. They included Taking the Credit, on carbon trading, which had been funded by Envirotrade; this amounted to sponsorship, which is prohibited for news and current affairs. Other programmes...