UK TV and Radio News

GB News was the subject of a widespread boycott in the first week of its broadcast as several companies pulled advertising from the new channel. The boycott was largely coordinated by the censorial campaigning group StopFundingHate.

GB News chair criticised the boycott and now presenter Nigel Farage has said that some companies have already U-turned on their decision to remove advertising from the channel. In particular IKEA and Vodafone both clarified they may resume advertising following a review.

In a TV debate on the channel, Dehenna Davison, the MP for Bishops Auckland, agreed with Farage the cancel culture movement was especially concerning as calls for a boycott had begun long before GB News had even begun to broadcast. She added:

Just because GB News is daring to do something a bit different and talk about topics the mainstream haven't been talking about, I think it makes it dangerous.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden also gave support to GB News when he called GB News a welcome addition to Britain's media sphere. In a column for the Sunday Telegraph, Dowden wrote:

When he launched the channel, veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil vowed that GB News would not be 'an echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset', and that it would 'empower those who feel their concerns have been unheard'

Update: Ofcom boss does not see anything problematic with GB News

25th June 2021. See article from dailymail.co.uk

An Ofcom boss said he has seen nothing problematic on GB News after brands pulled advertising from the new channel. Group director of content and media policy Kevin Bakhurst said there was nothing that would worry me as a regulator about its content.

Bakhurst, a former BBC news executive, said he was not part of Ofcom's formal monitoring but had been tuning in. He told a media industry event everything he had seen was accurate and looked like it achieved due impartiality:

From what I've seen so far, and I was watching it through my news background but also through my regulator's eye now, overall there's nothing that leaps out at me as thinking "that's problematic".

Woke Britbox bosses have added a trigger warning to Sacha Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show.

The Streaming platform is warning viewers sensitive to racist terms. Viewers are warned episodes contain crude humour, including racist terms which may offend, sexual references and strong language.

The show first aired on Channel 4 in 2000. Cohen won a string of awards playing the wannabe urban rapper and spoof interviewer for several years.

The Sun quotes a TV insider saying:

The warning will be greeted with disbelief by anyone who watched the original series which was almost universally liked.

There were some voices who criticised the show for allowing people to laugh at black, urban street culture, but the majority of viewers thought Ali G was hilarious.

The classic comedy Keeping Up Appearances, which originally ran from 1990 to 1995, has also suffered similar treatment by Britbox.  A trigger warning has been prefixed saying that episodes contain language and attitudes of the era that may offend.

The Sun speculates that the offending lines were about Polish imigrants and phrases such as bent as a £4 note.

Offsite Comment: Is it cos I is racist?

20th May 2021. See article from spiked-online.com

Da Ali G Show, an anti-racist satire, has been slapped with content warnings about its racist content.

Sky censored last night's episode of the latest episode of LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER.

About 20 seconds was cut directly after the end of the opening credits, where (if you know if the show) John usually complains about still hosting the show from the White Void.

The bit that was cut was:

Hi, and welcome to the show, still taking place in this blank void. I've nicknamed it Prince Philip's Coffin, because it's a sad, little box containing a rapidly decomposing British man.

The episode is also not on Sky's catch-up service at the time of writing (11am on Tuesday 20th April) some 13 hours after originally broadcast.

Hugely disappointed that an allegedly bad taste joke on a topical news comedy show was cut by Sky, because it might cause offence... Or have we got to a stage where no jokes about the Royal Family are ever acceptable in our Republic?

Update: Last Week Too

22nd April 2021. Thanks to Graeme

As to the censorship of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver by Sky Comedy, they did the same thing the week before. It was a joke about the Queen and Philip being related I think.

They also cut the opening monologue by Bill Maher the last 2 weeks as well.

The uncut versions are on the Real Time Youtube channel.

Update: Sky responds

24th April 2021. Thanks to Jon

Sky Viewer Relations responded to Jon's questions about Sky's censorship:

Thank you for your email regarding season 8, episode 9, of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver which aired on Sky Comedy on 19/04/2021.

This episode, as with all content broadcast on our channels, was reviewed by our compliance team before it aired and an editorial decision was made to remove the joke you have referred to.

Comedy is of course highly subjective, and while we do appreciate your point of view, in this context we are comfortable with the editorial decision that was made. Nevertheless, we would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us. We always appreciate receiving feedback from our viewers.

Jon comments:

Their response is pathetic and very much like the kind of nonsense I'd expect to hear from the BBC.

Ofcom has imposed a fine of £125,000 on Loveworld Limited after a programme broadcast on its religious service Loveworld Television Network featured inaccurate and supposedly potentially harmful claims about the Coronavirus without providing adequate protection for viewers. This was the second time in a year that the broadcaster rules on accuracy in news, and harm in its coverage of the Coronavirus.

Ofcom considered these breaches to be serious, repeated and reckless, warranting the imposition of a statutory sanction beyond the direction to broadcast a statement of our findings that Ofcom issued in its Decision published 15 January 2021.

Ofcom's investigation found that the 29-hour programme, Global Day of Prayer , included statements claiming that the pandemic is a planned event created by the deep state for nefarious purposes, and that the vaccine is a sinister means of administering nanochips to control and harm people. Some statements claimed that fraudulent testing had been carried out to deceive the public about the existence of the virus and the scale of the pandemic. Others linked the cause of Covid-19 to the roll out of 5G technology.

Ofcom was particularly concerned that this breach followed previous, similar breaches in 2020 during the investigation of which, Loveworld Limited gave Ofcom a number of assurances as to how it would improve its compliance procedures.

Update: Ofcom jabs don't work

20th April 2021.  See article from ofcom.org.uk

Twice Ofcom has jabbed at Loveworld over silly coronavirus theories but clearly this hasn't worked as Ofcom have been offended again. Ofcom writes:

Ofcom has found Loveworld Limited in breach of broadcasting rules on its religious service, Loveworld for a third time. Ofcom found that during two episodes of a current affairs programme, Full Disclosure , presenters made a number of materially misleading and potentially harmful statements about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines, which were made without scientific or other credible basis, and which went without sufficient context or challenge. Ofcom's investigation has found these programmes breached Rules 2.1 and 2.2 of the Broadcasting Code .

It is legitimate for broadcasters to discuss and scrutinise the public health response to the coronavirus pandemic -- including the potential side effects of vaccinations -- and it is in the public interest to do so. But Loveworld's presentation of misleading claims without sufficient challenge or context risked potential serious harm to viewers, particularly at a time when people were likely to be seeking reliable information relating to the UK's vaccination programme.

This is the third time that harmful coronavirus-related content on Loveworld has broken Ofcom's rules. We recently imposed a £125,000 fine on the channel for a breach which also related to claims about the coronavirus pandemic. We have directed Loveworld to broadcast a summary of Ofcom's decision, and are now considering whether to impose any further sanctions.

China's state propaganda channel CGTN could soon be back on British TV screens, as French authorities have agreed to regulate, so overriding a decision by the UK TV censor Ofcom to ban the channel.

Ofcom decided to pull CGTN off air in February after finding it unacceptable that the channel is editorially controlled by the Chinese Communist party.

France does not have rules that prohibit state-controlled broadcasters from airing in the country.

But now that the channel is officially regulated by another Council of Europe country, then Ofcom is bound by treaty to accept that CGTN can now broadcast to Britain.

The treaty between members of the Council of Europe, a 47-member organisation that is separate from the EU and therefore not affected by Brexit, mandates that an international broadcaster can beam into the territories of signatories as long as it falls under the jurisdiction of one member.

Saying that, it is not yet clear whether Sky will be including the channel in its package. However Sky currently carries the channel on its networks in Italy and Germany.