TV News

Adam Baxter, Ofcom Director of Standards and Audience Protection writes:

Over the year, we received 36,543 complaints about over 9,500 issues, and completed 74 broadcast standards investigations. We found in 66 of these cases that our rules had been broken. We also completed 45 fairness and privacy investigations during the year, of which six complaints were upheld. These figures show the weight we place on freedom of expression, and that we only step in when it's really needed.

Importantly, this number doesn't include complaints about programmes on the BBC. These are handled by the BBC in the first instance. In the summer, we told the BBC that we expect it to improve how it handles complaints from viewers and listeners. And we were pleased to see it recently announce that it would be changing its processes to make it easier for people to complain.

2022's list of most complained about programmes is, once again, dominated by reality TV -- in particular ITV's Love Island and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Given the large viewing figures, and the headlines and conversations created by these shows -- both online and offline -- it is not surprising to see them topping our chart.

Top ten complaints:

• Love Island, ITV2, 17 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
• I'm a Celebrity.... Get me out of here!, ITV, 6-27 November - viewers objected to the inclusion of Matt Hancock in the series.
• Friday Night Live, Channel 4, 21 October - complaints related to a performance by Jordan Gray.
• Love Island, ITV2, 19 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
• Good Morning Britain, ITV, 15 February - complaints related to comments made by Richard Madeley about death threats made to Keir Starmer.
• Jeremy Vine, Channel 5, 24 January - viewers complained about a health consultant's inaccurate statement about numbers of unvaccinated people in hospital with Covid-19.
• Love Island, ITV2, 18 July - complaints related to alleged misogynistic and bullying behaviour by some contestants in the villa.
• I'm a Celebrity.... Get me out of here!, ITV, 13 November - viewers objected to bullying behaviour against Matt Hancock.
• FIFA World Cup Final 2022: Argentina v France, ITV, 18 December - complaints related to politicised comments from Gary Neville.
• Sky News, Sky News, 10 September - a Justice for Chris Kaba walk was reported as people on their way to pay tribute to the late Queen. Ofcom is investigating whether this breached our rules on due accuracy.

Little Demon is a 2022 US animation TV comedy
Starring Aubrey Plaza, Lucy DeVito and Danny DeVito

After being impregnated by the Devil, a reluctant mother and her Antichrist daughter attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware.

Parents TV Council is a US morality campaign group. The group is campaigning against the US TV cartoon satire, Little Demon. The group writes:

A couple of weeks ago, I told you that KFC bought advertising time on "Little Demon." You and many other like-minded parents and grandparents took action, calling on KFC to pull its ads. The next week there were no KFC ads at all.

But it looks like KFC (and its Yum! Brands corporate cousins Pizza Hut and Taco Bell ) reconsidered and determined that the content on "Little Demon" is within their corporate standards.

KFC was back again last week. Not only that, but other YUM! Brands -- Taco Bell and Pizza Hut -- also purchased advertising on Little Demon.

Somebody at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell made an affirmative decision that the content on Little Demon was within their standards. Keep in mind that the program content has included satanic imagery, full-frontal female nudity, dozens and dozens of F- and S-words, graphic gore and violence, occultism, recreational drug use, and more.

That means KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut have chosen to EMBRACE the dark, depraved worldview presented on Little Demon.

Ofcom has revoked RT's licence to broadcast in the UK, with immediate effect.

We have done so on the basis that we do not consider RT's licensee, ANO TV Novosti, fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence.

The decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the due impartiality of RT's news and current affairs coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern -- especially given RT's compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.

In this context, we launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast.

This investigation has taken account of a number of factors, including RT's relationship with the Russian Federation. It has recognised that RT is funded by the Russian state, which has recently invaded a neighbouring sovereign country. We also note new laws in Russia which effectively criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state's own news narrative, in particular in relation to the invasion of Ukraine. We consider that given these constraints it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of our Broadcasting Code in the circumstances.

We recognise that RT is currently off air in the UK, as a result of sanctions imposed by the EU since the invasion of Ukraine commenced. We take seriously the importance, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster's right to freedom of expression and the audience's right to receive information and ideas without undue interference. We also take seriously the importance of maintaining audiences' trust and public confidence in the UK's broadcasting regulatory regime.

Taking all of this into account, as well as our immediate and repeated compliance concerns, we have concluded that we cannot be satisfied that RT can be a responsible broadcaster in the current circumstances. Ofcom is therefore revoking RT's licence to broadcast with immediate effect.

Sky TV is no longer broadcasting the propaganda channel RT, previously called Russia Today in light of Russia's murderous attack on Ukraine. The channel has been completely removed from the Sky EPG.

Sky spokeswoman Chris Major said:

Sky had decided to suspend showing RT in light of the rapidly unfolding situation in Ukraine.

As a responsible broadcaster, we take great care to ensure we comply with the Code of Broadcasting Standards. We have had ongoing dialogue with the BSA over the past few days, and have received complaints from a number of customers.

The channel has also been widely removed from social media.

The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is warning parents about the new season of HBO's Euphoria, to be released on January 9, as it may contain content that is harmful to children. Media outlets have reported that the second season promises to be darker than the first season. PTC President Tim Winter said:

When the dark, depraved, degenerate and nihilistic program Euphoria first premiered, its creator, Sam Levinson, proudly proclaimed that there are going to be parents who are going to be totally fucking freaked out. His omen was correct, and unsurprisingly so because Euphoria centers on the lives of high school children, and features a Disney Channel starlet as the lead actress. Given the explicit content in the program's first season, we are issuing our strongest warning to parents about the premiere of the new season and its imminent threat to the health and well-being of children.

Just how explicit is this show? Content from just the first two episodes included the full-frontal nudity of more than 30 high-school-aged boys; an adult male putting a condom on his erect penis as he prepares to engage in anal sex with a teenager; the main female character -- a high school teenager -- offering to perform oral sex on an adult male; and more than 80 uses of the 'f-word,' as well as other obscenities.

The show frequently depicts characters, both teens and adults, engaged in sex, some scenes of which depict statutory rape; and it normalizes pornography and promotes underage drinking, smoking, drug use, among other dangerous behavior. AT&T/HBO have arrogantly claimed they have 'creative freedom' to show sexual violence involving children. And while Euphoria is rated TV-MA, suggesting it is intended only for mature audiences, the program has been marketed directly to children via social media, including instructions on how to view it on the HBO streaming app for free.

We urgently call on parents to take swift measures to protect their children from this extremely explicit program. And we implore AT&T/HBO to put a halt to Euphoria and other content that not only sexualizes children, but that sexually-exploits them, Winter said.

Emily in Paris is a 2020 US/France comedy romance by Darren Star
Starring Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu and Ashley Park

Emily, an ambitious twenty-something marketing executive from Chicago, unexpectedly lands her dream job in Paris when her company acquires a French luxury marketing company - and she is tasked with revamping their social media strategy. Emily's new life in Paris is filled with intoxicating adventures and surprising challenges as she juggles winning over her work colleagues, making friends, and navigating new romances.

Ukraine's minister of culture has been watching Netflix series Emily in Paris -- and he's not happy. Oleksandr Tkachenko shared his frustration about what he considers offensive in the way in which Petra, a Ukrainian character, is portrayed in season 2 of the show.

Tkachenko described Petra, played by Daria Panchenko, as a "caricature." Petra makes a bad impression on Emily when she unapologetically steals clothes from a local mall and encourages her to do the same, before sprinting off onto the streets of Paris.

'Unacceptable' and offensive Tkachenko condemned the storyline. In 'Emily in Paris' we have a caricature of a Ukrainian woman, which is unacceptable. On the other hand, it is also offensive. Will Ukrainians be seen as such abroad? Who steal, want to get everything for free, be afraid of deportation? That should not be the case, he wrote in a post on his official Telegram channel.