News
4th Mar 2024
In a Nutshell: Ofcom (the regulator for U.K. television) has ruled that comments made by Laurence Fox on the Dan Wootton Show (broadcast by GB News) broke broadcast rules. Ofcom said that Fox’s comments “constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers". The regulator also raised concerns about GB News’ ability to control what gets said live on its network.
How to use this source: The article is a good example of a regulator stepping in to ensure broadcasters do not cause offence to viewers.
It is also a god example of Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory. Even though the recipient of Fox’s comments, journalist Ana Evans, was not present in the interview, Fox’s comments created the narrative that “a woman's value was judged by her physical appearance.”
Key Information to include: GB News is a right-wing U.K. news broadcaster; Laurence Fox was sacked and presenter Dan Wootton was suspended by GB News over the comments; there were 8867 complaints about the comments; Ofcom had 12 open investigations into the conduct of GB News in September 2023.
22nd Jan 2024
In a Nutshell: Ofcom (the Office for Communications) is going to regulate the BBC’s online news content at well as its TV, Radio and Video On Demand content. This is a change from the existing system, where the BBC’s Online News was self-regulated only by the BBC.
How to use this source: This article is useful for two things. Firstly, it is a good example of regulation, and knowing that Ofcom now regulates BBC News Online shows examiners that you have been keeping up to date with developments in regulation.
But the article is also useful for the way it discusses the future of the BBC (which is always in doubt in the U.K.). The move has come about, in part, over the way the BBC responded to tweets made by one of its presenters (Gary Lineker) on his private account (see below).
Key Information to include: Ofcom will now regulate BBC News Online (it didn’t before); the move affects BBC News Online and the BBC’s YouTube Channel.
1st Dec 2023
In a Nutshell: This story is an about a foreign power (Abu Dhabi) trying to buy a British newspaper (The Telegraph). Their attempt is being investigated by the Secretary of State for Culture & Media. This is an ongoing story.
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How to use this source: The story touches on media industry issues or ownership, power and control. The U.K. government might want to block a foreign country from having this level of access to British news over fears of bias and potential propaganda. It raises the larger question of how much control the U.K. government has over the British media (particularly the BBC, which is dependent on the License Fee), and how far the press can be truly independent of political influence.
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Key information to include: the buyer already owns Manchester City football club; the bid also includes the Spectator magazine (a political magazine); the group attempting to buy the Telegraph is headed up by Jeff Zucker, the former head of CNN (a news channel in the U.S.).
21st Mar 2023
In a Nutshell: Gary Lineker is a British footballing icon who presents the UK Premier League round-up show Match of the Day on BBC One. On 7th March 2023, Lineker retweeted an announcement by the U.K. Government on their policy on Asylum Seekers, with the words, “Good heavens, this is beyond awful.” When quizzed on the post, he responded saying that the announcement by the U.K. Government that they were planning to send immigrants arriving in the U.K illegally to Rwanda, was “language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the '30s.” This led to the BBC to suspend him from work. But the story doesn’t end there…
Other presenters of Match of the Day, including Arsenal legend Ian Wright, refused to present the show without Lineker, meaning that when that Saturday’s show did go out, it was presenterless and lasted only 20 minutes instead of its usual 80. The BBC quickly reversed its decision, reinstating Lineker and asked him to return to the show.
How to use this source: This moment was widely seen in the U.K. as a blow for the freedom of the individual over the corporation, and ties-in nicely with Livingstone and Lunt’s theory of regulation. The BBC argued that Lineker’s Tweets were not impartial, and so decided to censor him in order to protect their brand from criticism of being impartial themselves. But Lineker Tweeted on his personal account, not the BBCs. The Corporation argued that - as the BBC had effectively made Lineker’s career as a sports pundit - he was bound by their social media guidelines.
The BBC had no existing policy in place to cover its employees making statements on their personal social media accounts. On the one hand, Lineker’s statements could be seen to liken the U.K. Government to Nazi Germany (in the 1930s), and might fall under ‘harmful’ or ‘offensive’ categories, and so be in need of censorship. On the other hand, his freedom of speech has been censored not by a court or a judge, but by his employer. This is a fine example of regulation being harder in the digital age when everyone can share their thoughts almost as soon as they have them.
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Key Information to include: Lineker compared the U.K. Government’s immigration policy to Nazi Germany; the BBC tried to censor Lineker’s personal Twitter account and faced backlash from other pundits and some fans.