TV News

Ofcom has published an end of year review. Ofcom writes:

Over the course of the last year, we received 69,236 complaints about 9,638 cases. That's nearly twice as many complaints as we dealt with in 2022

In 2023, we published 23 Broadcast and On Demand Bulletins which announced 57 new broadcast standards investigations, as well the outcome of 46 investigations. We found a total of 35 programmes in breach of our broadcasting rules and are working to conclude the others as quickly as possible. We also published 15 adjudications on complaints from individuals and organisations that complained to us that they had been treated unfairly and/or had their privacy unwarrantably infringed in TV and radio programmes.

We imposed sanctions on four broadcasters for content breaches, including a £40,000 fine to the Islam channel and £10,000 to Ahlebait TV , both for broadcasting antisemitic content.

We also found GB News in breach of our rules on five occasions after our investigations found it broke our rules that protect audiences from harm twice and our due impartiality rules three times.

Most complained about programmes of 2023

• Dan Wootton Tonight, GB News, 26 September 2023 -- 8,867 complaints

  Viewers objected to the misogynistic comments made by Laurence Fox about journalist Ava Evans.

  Ofcom's investigation of this programme under our rules on offence is ongoing.
   

• King Charles III: The Coronation, ITV1, 6 May 2023 -- 8,421 complaints

  The majority of complaints related to a comment made by actress Adjoa Andoh during the live broadcast, which focused on the 'whiteness' of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

  While we understand some viewers had strong feelings about this comment, after careful consideration we concluded that the comment was a personal observation which was part of a wide-ranging panel discussion which also touched on other diversity-related topics, and which contained a range of viewpoints.
   

• Good Morning Britain, ITV1, 17 October 2023 -- 2,391 complaints

  We carefully assessed complaints about the presenter's line of questioning towards MP Layla Moran.

  We considered his live, unscripted remarks were potentially offensive. However, taking the entire interview into account, and in particular a preceding discussion about Hamas using civilians as human shields, we considered the question sought to explore whether civilians were aware of a potential escalation in hostilities, rather than suggesting that Ms Moran or her family were aware of specific plans for the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. In her response, Ms Moran spoke about her surprise at the scale and sophistication of the attack. In light of this, we will not be pursuing further.
   

• Jeremy Vine, Channel 5, 13 March 2023 -- 2,302 complaints

  We carefully considered complaints from viewers about a discussion on the junior doctors' pay dispute.

  While we recognise that some references about progression timelines and corresponding pay-scales were not strictly accurate, we do not consider that the errors were sufficient to have materially misled viewers so as to cause harm.
   

• Breakfast with Kay Burley, Sky News, 23 November 2023 -- 1,880 complaints

  We carefully considered complaints about the presenter's line of questioning during an interview with Israeli spokesperson, Eylon Levy.

  Taking account of Mr Levy's forceful challenge to the premise of the question about the value of Israeli versus Palestinian lives, and the context of the wider discussion about the terms of the temporary ceasefire, we will not be pursuing further.
   

• Lee Anderson's Real World, GB News, 29 September 2023 -- 1,697 complaints

  Complaints related to Lee Anderson's interview with Suella Braverman, on the grounds that they are both Conservative MPs.

  We published our assessment of this programme which found that it included an appropriately wide range of significant views on immigration and border control which were given due weight.
   

• Breakfast with Kay Burley, Sky News, 10 October 2023 -- 1,640 complaints

  Complainants alleged Kay Burley misrepresented comments made by the Palestinian ambassador.

  We are assessing the complaints, before we decide whether or not to investigate.
   

• Naked Education, Channel 4, 4 April 2023 -- 1,285 complaints

  We understand that some viewers were concerned about this programme, which included pre-watershed nudity.

  In our view, the programme had a clear educational focus, and the young participants reflected positively on their involvement. We also took into account that there were warnings to the audience before the programme aired.
   

• This Morning, ITV, 18 December 2023, 1,092 complaints

  Complaints related to comments made by Vanessa Feltz about coeliac disease.

  We are assessing the complaints, before we decide whether or not to investigate.
   

• Love Island, ITV2, 9 July 2023 -- 992 complaints

  The majority of complaints about this episode related to bullying against Scott.

  We carefully assessed complaints about this series on a range of issues including alleged bullying, homophobia and racism.

  We recognise that emotionally charged or confrontational scenes can upset some viewers. But, in our view, negative behaviour in the villa was not shown in a positive light. We also took into account that the format of this reality show is well-established and viewers would expect to see highs and lows as couples' relationships are tested.

  Viewers also complained about a contestant being voted off and returning to the programme, but this was an editorial decision for the broadcaster.

The Simpsons has retired one of its recurring scenes, saying Homer strangling his son Bart is no longer appropriate because times have changed.

The decision was revealed in the 3rd episode of the long-running show's 35th series, in which Homer indicates he is a changed man

Homer strangling Bart had been a regular feature of the animated comedy sitcom ever since it first aired in 1989. Why you little...., a hapless Homer would often yell if his son had angered him, while squeezing his neck until Bart's eyes could be seen bulging out.

Homer's behaviour was addressed during an earlier episode in series 22, when a therapist attempted to get him to see the error of his ways.

The US morality campaign, Parents TV Council, writes:

The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) calls on HBO to immediately remove Naked Attraction from its streaming platform, Max . The UK-originated program is a game show that features uncensored fully naked contestants who are evaluated from the bottom up and eventually chosen for a date solely based on physical attributes by a single contestant. It was reported that Max added all six seasons of Naked Attraction .

Melissa Henson, vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council said:

Naked Attraction should not exist on the Max streaming platform, and HBO should immediately remove this exploitative, pornographic program. Our research has found that Max has mediocre parental controls, enabling children to access some of the most explicit streaming content on the market. There is no doubt children will be able to easily access Naked Attraction , the purpose of which is to shock and titillate the audience with uncensored and explicit nudity. And in a new low for HBO, the show fully exploits its own participants, somehow convincing them that their exploitation for the purpose of dating is right and good

The fact that HBO quietly added Naked Attraction tells us everything we need to know: HBO is duplicitous. It gives the appearance of a trusted family brand by hosting Harry Potter and Sesame Street , but HBO has now lifted its own veil, revealing that it is and always was a pornography channel.

The board of Warner Bros. Discovery is hereby put on notice: the fact that pornographic Naked Attraction is on the Max platform with parental controls that are weak and inefficient is a major corporate liability. We urgently call on the board to course-correct by removing Naked Attraction and instituting the strongest parental controls by default.

Bluey is a 2018 Australia/UK children's cartoon TV series
Starring David McCormack, Melanie Zanetti and Ninthe van Schie

The slice-of-life adventures of an Australian Blue Heeler Cattle Dog puppy as she has fun with her family and friends in everyday situations.

The beloved Australian show, Bluey has captured hearts around the world. With refreshing takes on parenthood, but, there are also quite a few cuts and banned episodes.

TikToker @world.shaker has compiled a list of changes that Disney+ made in season 3.

• In one episode, Bandit is shown getting hit in a sensitive spot but in the Disney+ version that scene is cut.
• In another scene, Bandit has a conversation about getting a vasectomy but that's gone too.
• Then, there are the episodes that Disney just outright said no to airing. One of the banned episodes features a storyline around flatulence. The episode, titled Family Meeting shows a silent, smelly something pass under Bluey's nose.
• Another controversial episode comes from season 2. In it, Bandit simulates what it's like to give birth--Bingo slides out of a carrier strapped to his chest.

SpongeBob SquarePants is a 1999 US children's cartoon
Starring Tom Kenny, Rodger Bumpass and Bill Fagerbakke

The misadventures of a talking sea sponge who works at a fast food restaurant, attends a boating school, and lives in an underwater pineapple.

A previously withdrawn episode of SpongeBob SquarePants has just made its way back to streaming. Mid-Life Crustacean , which was first released in January 2003, is available to stream on Paramount+ through Amazon Prime Video after it was taken out of TV rotation in 2018 and subsequently pulled from the Paramount+ library in 2021.

The episode proved to be controversial, with some claiming it to be unsuitable for the young audience the show is geared towards. The episode finds three of the show's male characters -- Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob, and Patrick -- going on a Panty Raid, involving them breaking into a woman's house to steal her underwear.

Several years later, in 2022, the episode was scrubbed from Paramount+. That latter move sparked outrage among SpongeBob Squarepants fans, eventually leading to the launch of a fan-created Change.org petition calling on Nickelodeon to Bring Back Mid-Life Crustacean! The petition argued that Nickelodeon already knows that a large portion of the fanbase is composed of nostalgic adults, and as such could have been bumping up the rating on this episode or include a warning or something else.

While Mid-Life Crustacean has returned to streaming, it seems that another episode, Kwarantined Crab, is still on the banned list. That episode was pulled in 2021 after it aired as part of SpongeBob's 12th season amid the coronavirus pandemic and the rise of anti-Asian violence. The episode finds the Krusty Krab going under emergency quarantine after the Health Inspector finds a Clam Flu case in the restaurant. As anxiety grows among those locked in the Kruty Krab, those who are assumed to have the virus are shunned and isolated, with Mr. Krabs locking SpongeBob, Patrick, and several other characters in the restaurant's freezer. In a statement confirming the episode was pulled, Nickelodeon said, We have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic.

The Idol is a 2023 US sexy TV drama
Starring The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp and Suzanna Son

Jocelyn is desperate to reclaim her rightful title as the greatest and sexiest pop diva in America after a nervous breakdown disrupted her most recent tour after Tedros, a notorious nightclub entrepreneur, reignites her passions.

The US moral campaign group have whinged:

In light of the news that The Idol's first season will only be five episodes (with hype suggesting that the promised 6th episode has been censored), the Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is calling on HBO not to renew The Idol for a second season, given the program's extreme content, nudity, sexual abuse, torture , that can be harmful to young viewers.

The PTC has called on HBO's streaming platform MAX to stop marketing The Idol to youth through social media, and to shore up wide gaps in its parental controls that enable youth to watch The Idol and other explicit TV-MA content like Euphoria.

The Idol has been rightfully panned by TV critics because each episode delves deeper into 'torture porn' and sexual abuse. Far from enlightening, the show has sunk into such depravity that even its niche audience has clearly turned against it, otherwise, why would HBO only air five of the expected six episodes? HBO should run far from this Sam Levinson-produced program that glamorizes and egregiously markets extreme sexual abuse to teens by refusing to renew it for a second season, said Melissa Henson, vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council.

Videos tagged with #theidol on TikTok have racked-up more than 1.2 BILLION views. There are more than 120 variations on that hashtag, adding up to millions more views.

TV critics have slammed The Idol, citing it as pornographic, a sordid male fantasy, a darker, crazier, and more risque version of HBO's Euphoria .

Russian viewers watched the HBO's hit series The White Lotus in the only officially available format via streaming platform Amediateka. The platform severely censored the second season of The White Lotus to comply with repressive Russian law banning gay content.

Scenes were removed, lines of dialogues were purposefully mistranslated in dubbing and Russian subtitles (eg We're all gays here ,became We're all men here ) and the bare buttocks of actor Leo Woodall were covered with a poorly photoshopped blanket, even though featuring in a straight scene.

HBO's Euphoria was also edited in similar ways by Amediateka with nearly two hours' worth of content cut out of the series' second season.

Viewers also discovered that the translation of Sex and the City was tweaked, replacing the word gay with boy , while several scenes were completely cut out.

An amended anti-gay law was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin at the end of last year. It is a more severe version of 2013's law that saw the country outlawing 'LGBT propaganda' and depictins of LGBT behaviour among children under 18 (i.e., holding hands in public, men wearing colourful nail polish, kissing).

After December 2022 all kinds of LGBT propaganda are considered illegal. The list includes untraditional sexual relationships and gender reassignment. Lawmakers are still working on the list of further criteria for proclaiming a work illegal,' and it will come into effect in September.

Russia's internet censor Roskomnadzor has also issued its own list of movies and TV shows that were to be removed from all the legal streaming platforms including Call Me By Your Name , Brokeback Mountain , the first season of The Sex Lives of College Girls and several episodes of This Is Going to Hurt .

On the morning of February 14, 2023, approximately two dozen officials from India's Income Tax Department made their way into the India office of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) located in the capital city of New Delhi to start an "income tax survey" of the organization. According to Newslaundry , a media watchdog in India, roughly 100 employees from the organization who were present in the building at the time were asked to submit their phones and remain on the premises during the raid. A similar "survey" also started at the BBC office in Mumbai. The search lasted for three days and was concluded on the evening of February 16, 2023.

For those familiar with the socio-political circumstances in India, the news on Tuesday came as no surprise since it followed a pattern that has become extremely common in the country. BBC, the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom, had been the topic of public conversation and news coverage for the past month, the reason being its explosive documentary on the Gujarat riots of 2002 .

In January 2023, the BBC released a two-part documentary titled " India: The Modi Question ," which aimed to highlight the rising violence against the Muslim minority population in India under the leadership of its current Prime Minister Narendra Modi . The first part of the series, released on January 17, focused on the horrific Gujarat riots of 2002. The segment exposed the significant involvement of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of Gujarat in the violent attacks against the Muslim minority population during that period.

The information the documentary shared was nothing new and has existed in the form of publicly available written records, documentation and reportage for the last two decades. During a rally in November 2022, Amit Shah, a prominent leader of the BJP and the Minister of Home Affairs, acknowledged the Gujarat riots in which a large number of people, primarily Muslims, lost their lives. Shah proclaimed that " they were taught a lesson ."

Blocking the documentary in India

Yet the Indian government's reaction to the documentary was instant, dismissing it as a propaganda piece . The documentary was made available only in the UK through BBC's online streaming service BBC iPlayer; however, it was uploaded to multiple YouTube channels by individuals and extensively shared on various social media platforms. The government invoked emergency laws to completely prohibit access to the documentary on the web for viewers in India. Kanchan Gupta, the senior adviser at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting mentioned in a tweet on January 2023 that a number of YouTube videos containing the first episode of the BBC documentary and over fifty tweets with links to the YouTube videos were ordered to be taken down .

On January 24, the BBC aired the second part of the documentary, which examined the performance of the Modi government following its re-election in 2019, and it was not subjected to any censorship orders.

The decision by Twitter to remove the tweets and the lack of support from Western democracies in defence of the BBC's documentary, which the organization claimed was " rigorously researched ," sparked widespread debate.

Cracking down on public screenings

Despite the Modi government's desperate attempts to suppress the documentary and prevent it from being viewed online, student groups in prestigious universities across India conducted public screenings to demonstrate their dissent against the oppressive government.

However, the government responded with severe measures against these student groups. Students who screened or watched the documentary were suspended by colleges , while supporters of the BJP and state-led groups held protests outside universities, even going so far as to threaten the students with physical violence and murder for screening the documentary.

In addition, BJP leaders labelled the BBC as corrupt and accused them of having ulterior motives in trying to "defame" India's reputation. They denounced the documentary as propaganda and condemned it as an expression of a colonial mindset . These criticisms were also used to justify the ban on the documentary.

The raids follow a pattern

Considering this sequence of events, the recent raid on the BBC seems to be retaliatory action , aimed at teaching the organization a lesson and hindering its operations in India, while citing other reasons. It is possible to arrive at this inference since the BJP has previously employed state agencies such as the IT (Income Tax) Department and ED (Enforcement Directorate), which investigates financial crimes, to target think tanks, NGOs and media outlets that have dared to criticize the government led by Narendra Modi.

For instance, on September 7, 2022, the IT Department conducted raids in the offices of Oxfam India, Centre for Policy Research (one of the most prominent think tanks in India) and Independent And Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF), which funds several media outlets like The Wire , The Caravan , The Print , all of which have been critical of the BJP. The investigations were aimed at scrutinizing alleged violations of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA), a law that regulates foreign funding in India.

Since coming into power, the BJP has tightened FCRA regulations , requiring more detailed reporting and scrutiny of civil society organizations that receive foreign funding in India. The government has also denied the renewal of FCRA licenses for hundreds of NGOs, alleging their involvement in " anti-national activity ."

In July 2021, the IT Department conducted a raid on Dainik Bhaskar, a prominent Hindi-language newspaper in India, over allegations of tax evasion. Opposition leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted that the newspaper was targeted because:

Through its reporting Dainik Bhaskar has exposed the Modi regime's monumental mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now paying the price.

An Undeclared Emergency as Arun Shourie has said -- this is a Modified Emergency. https://t.co/EVLHGisGTq

-- Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 22, 2021

In February 2021, The offices of independent media house Newsclick in New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, along with residences of its senior management were raided by the ED, which accused the organization of money laundering. Newsclick had previously been critical of the BJP-led central government in its reporting and extensively covered the Farmer's Protests that shook the nation.

The India office of international human rights organization Amnesty International faced raids by the ED in 2018 and 2019, which accused the organization of violating the FCRA act. Amnesty's bank accounts were subsequently frozen, leading to the organization's cessation of operations in India in September 2020. Amnesty accused the Indian government of engaging in a witch hunt due to the organization's work criticizing the government.

It is noteworthy that media houses or NGOs with close ties to the BJP or those known to report positively about the party have not been subjected to similar raids or searches, regardless of any allegations made against them.

Groups advocating for human rights are warning about the alarming decline in human rights and media freedom in India. They argue that state agencies are being used as weapons to suppress all forms of dissent and criticism of the government in the country. As a result, the cost of being an independent journalist in India has become very high.

In order to avoid facing similar retaliatory measures, many mainstream media channels in India have resorted to becoming mouthpieces of the government, sharing nothing beyond propaganda, thus making it harder for the public to access unbiased and critical information.