In a piece for Spiked, Professor Andrew Tettenborn discusses how the controversies surrounding GB News serve as a prime example of Ofcom’s increasing overreach. Here’s an excerpt:
Set up as a super-ministry by Tony Blair in 2003, Ofcom assumed responsibility for two areas: boringly technical matters, such as allocating radio frequencies; and dealing with complaints about material appearing on radio and TV, which includes ensuring that all news is presented with ‘due impartiality’ and that all programming avoids ‘harmful and / or offensive material’. Ofcom has performed this latter function with increasing zeal. It intervened, for example, in 2020 to make sure no one strayed too far from the accepted line on Covid. And a year earlier it penalised broadcaster James Whale for expressing views on air that were entirely lawful, but nevertheless seen as insensitive, when discussing a case of sexual assault.
More recently, GB News has rarely been out of Ofcom’s sights. A couple of weeks ago, it was rapped over the knuckles for breaching impartiality rules, after two Tory MPs interviewed the Tory chancellor in March about Government splits on economic policy. There are five more impartiality investigations in the pipeline, including one into Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg being allowed to present a current-affairs programme and another into the station’s ‘Don’t Kill Cash’ campaign.
This hyperactive interventionism should worry us. For one thing, it gives complainants with an axe to grind far too much power. For a broadcaster to answer a complaint, even an unjustified one, takes money and a great deal of time. And any station knows that close co-operation with Ofcom, from whom its licence comes, is a commercial necessity. …
At present, Ofcom is riding high. Under the Online Safety Bill, now assured of passage into law, it is also set to take over looking after large swathes of the internet (itself a frightening prospect). This is entirely the wrong direction of travel.
Worth reading in full.
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James Whale — Don’t like that jab pushing fascist but defend his free speech.
“Don’t Kill Cash’ campaign”……What would be the complaint and what is these to investigate? Is it about speculation of the reach of CBDCs? That suspicion is understandable. Ever since the Canadian Trucker protest, the way they went after even old ladies giving some money, left many in no doubt that nothing good can come from CBDCs.
The investigation into Dont Kill Cash campaign relates to whether it amounts to political campaigning, which isn’t allowed apparently (if your name is GB News).
There is nothing political about Cash, with due exception to the brown envelope stuff.
‘Complaints’ to Ofcom these days need to be taken with a vat of salt. More often than not, a couple of activists will go to their relevant social media meeting points and orchestrate a pile-on. The Ofcom boss has also been seen attending the WEF conferences in Davos. It’s another organisation that needs de-fanging, preferably scrapping.
Much of this originates in ‘hate speech’ laws, which are so broadly written that anyone feigning offence about anything can make complaints. It’s a colossal failing of 13 years’ worth of alleged ‘Conservative’ governments that we’re still run by the Blair-Brown form of technocratic governance. The promised Great Repeal Bill never happened. The Tories have one year left to destroy vast amounts of Labour social engineering dogma – essentially intrusive, anti-British, anti-freedom state controls. It’s like cleaning Google Android bloat from your phone: everything will work more smoothly and the battery lasts longer. They could do it with one Act of Parliament if they had the cojones.
As long as the Blair-Brown infrastructure is maintained – including the ‘independence’ of the Bank of England – we can’t truly reform anything in our failing, divided country.
OFCOM should be massively scaled back. The granting of broadcast licenses on the basis of a fit and proper person test – and that only on the basis of criminal convictions, or human rights abuses (to rule out dodgy foreign owners).
Complaints should be resolved by the complainants growing a pair, via the exercise of free choice, or by the courts if necessary.
Ofcom delenda est. And salt the earth it stands on.
Blair again, as with the Supreme Court ensuring the Left may lose an election but would never be out of power.
Successive Conservative Governments have done nothing to clip their wings and have pushed the power grab further.
Well fancy that, its the firkin virus again for which nobody has yet produced a viable “vaccine”
Bliar.
Blair really is a virus: a societal one. Obama, Trudeau, Andrews, Arden, Macron and Varhadkar are all examples of the Blair virus.
Don’t forget the Bliar’s initials TB okay so it’s a bacteria but nonetheless a scourge on society just like him.
The hand of Blair.
The deliberate dumbing down of education – everyone can have a University Degree – shame there’s no jobs though thanks to him selling the family silver, compulsory ID and digital ID, the digital NHS fiasco (only wasted 10 billion) – and he was in bed with Gates on that one, Iraq – only cost the lives of God knows how many and destabilised the world, in favour of bombing Syria, Libya, Belgrade etc. Peace envoy, lol, to the Middle East…
Prominent member of the WEF and Tony Blair inc.
And not to forget mandatory vaccine and net zero enthusiast.
The man has been, is and will continue be a total disaster for humanity.
That said, the joke’s on us, how on God’s earth a creature like that can prosper is an indictment on us all.
May he and his ilk rot in hell forever.
And may he please go there asap …. tomorrow would be good.
How does one become an activist and go after OFCOM and its leaders and minions and other organisations as I ask here and here on DS.
There are precedents and lessons to be learned if anyone is willing to consider setting up an activism forum [or just a website on what to do and how to go about it – which might avoid some of the legal obstacles.
Years ago Dr Ben Goldacre set up the BadScience Forum whose members Goldacre exhorted to complain all over the place. Quite a number of participants were IMHO activist thugs and bullies who set about with gusto complaining about people who IMHO really did not deserve it – often medical doctors who did not toe the party line or homeopaths, herbalists and the like.
They had numerous activism guides – an example is below.
However, Goldacre had never registered the forum under the Data Protection Act – bypassing peoples’ rights to Subject Access Requests and rectification. In short it was illegal and when GDPR and the new Data Protection Act came into force Goldacre had to shut it down or face serious penalties writing simple: “The forum has now closed. There is a new (unaffiliated) forum at ….” https://badscience.net/forum/
Here is an example of one of Goldacre’s forum’s activism guides – most of which is not relevant if one is complaining about OFCOM itself instead of a broadcaster:
“How to Guide: Complain to OFCOM
Firstly you need to read the relevant code. They are all available on the OFCOM website http://www.ofcom.org.uk/. There are several codes. The main broadcasting one is at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/.
Having read the code and decided which part of the code the broadcast breaks write a letter to OFCOM stating:-
1. the name of the program (if available)
2. date and time of broadcast (the time can be approximate).
3. the channel on which the program was broadcast.
4. the nature of your complaint. Relate this to the code.
As an example here is a complaint about a (imaginary) exorcism broadcast on 1/1/07 at about 2pm on the JesusSaves channel (fictitious) where the program title was unknown.
“Sir/Madam
At about 2pm on 1/1/07 the JesusSaves channel broadcast an exorcism contrary to rule 1.10 of the Broadcasting code on the following grounds:
1. 2pm is before the watershed and is a time when children are likely to be watching television.
2. The presenter stated as fact that the person being subjected to the exorcism was possessed by demons and that they were ‘cured’ by the exorcism. The program did not therefore constitute a “legitimate investigation” as required by the code.”
include a phone number and email address as well as postal address and then post the complaint to OFCOM.
They may ring you after a few days to discus you complaint. After some time the adjudication will arrive.”
I am incredibly upset about Laurence Fox: I watched his conversation on Triggernometry yesterday and it is obvious that those few moments of emotion-driven speech have destroyed him. However, what he said was completely unacceptable and GB News has no choice but to dismiss him. I defend his right to say what he thought, but not his right to say it when he was broadcasting on a national TV channel.
I have, however, made the decision to watch GB News even more than I already did (helped by the fact that TalkTV has moved J H-B from the morning slot). I never watch the BBC, ITV, Sky or the odious C4 so it’s GB News or nothing as far as I’m concerned.
OFCOM is another branch of the NuLabour State which the Not-a-Conservative-Party has enthusiastically embraced and empowered. This country is being turned into the DDR before our eyes: Honecker would be delighted that his authoritarian Communist regime has been born again in the UK.
The truth shoukd always be a defence
It seems ALL regulators are either useless or captured or probably both.
We have frequent cause to comment about MHRA, who seem to have decided their loyalty lies with whomever provides the moolah – not the public.
I read a tweet a couple of days ago from someone called The Right Angle (don’t know how to provide a link) who seems to have delved into Ofcom. They found several conflicts of interest with links to the BBC/ITV etc and linked Dame Dawes with our friend Sue Gray.
They are indeed gunning for the new channels whilst content to allow the BBC to handle complaints in-house (or with the company they have contracted to brush off the public who have the cheek to complain).
We need rid of them.
Interesting that a couple here, DomH75 & NeilofWatford don’t yet seem to have worked out that there is no left and right in politics any more. That names like “Conservative” and “Labour” are just terms to describe 2 identical facets of the Westminster uniparty, there for no other reason than to give the illusion of choice.
Once you realise that Team Red and Team Blue are just the customer facing masks if the globalists, things make so much more sense.
Until people wake up to that fact in great numbers, not much will change, I fear.
Another land mine buried by war criminal Blair.