UK TV and Radio News

The BBC has pulled a documentary which follows the life of a boy in war-torn Gaza after seemingly coming under pressure from Israeli supporters.

Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone which was on the BBC's iPlayer streaming service centres on the struggles of 13-year-old Abdullah, living under Israel's brutal offensive in the Palestinian territory.

Following pressure, it was taken down on Friday, a day after British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would discuss the issue with the BBC's director general and chairman. The BBC says that a number of British television figures also had sent letters criticising it and called for an investigation.

The documentary was removed after the BBC with the explanation that the organisation discovered that the boy's father, Dr Ayman Alyazouri, has worked as a deputy agriculture minister in the Gaza government. Following the ban, the BBC issued a statement saying:

The film remains a powerful child's eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency.

Despite it being pulled from iPlayer, many online users have shared the one-hour documentary on social media.

The BBC has published a trailer for a new six-part comedy horror drama filmed in Northen Ireland and Ireland earlier this year. It tells the story of three teenagers who go on an epic quest to complete a cult horror VHS collection.

A description of the series reads:

Set in 1985, when the home video revolution is in full analogue swing, Video Nasty tells the story of three mostly-normal-but-kind-of-weird teenagers who go on an epic quest to complete a cult VHS collection.

Instead, they get mixed up in a murder investigation, becoming chief suspects and public enemies. The series is a deadly, deadpan comedy with a raucous, racy, retro flavour. Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer set to film latest blockbuster in Northern Ireland Who are Marian and Dolours Price?

Written and created by Hugh Travers and directed by Christopher Smith and Megan K. Fox the series promises to be a, raucous, racy, retro 80's throwback that blends laugh-out loud comedy with compelling horror-themed drama.

The series will be available on iPlayer on 8th January 2025.

Smile is a 2022 US horror mystery thriller by Parker Finn
Starring Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher and Kyle Gallner

After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, a psychiatrist becomes increasingly convinced she is being threatened by an uncanny entity.

Thanks to Daniel who comments:

Channel 4's screening of Smile on the 19th October was censored.

Despite the fact that the screening started twenty minutes after the watershed and detailed warnings about the content were given just prior, the opening suicide scene was edited to remove a shot of Caitlin Stasey's character impassively cutting her throat with a shard of broken vase. The scene is crucial in establishing the film's tone early on.

There may have been more cuts but I turned it off. I always understood that Channel 4 policy was to screen films intact after the watershed...guess that's no longer the case.

It is worth noting that the subsequent repeat broadcast on 4seven after 10:00pm was uncut. I did query Channel 4 as to why the film's initial broadcast was censored, and they cited Ofcom guidelines as the reason for the 16 second edit. As the film was shown after the watershed and has an 18 certificate, an uncut screening should have been possible.

As Film4 also cut the late night screening of Lords Of Chaos some time back for images relating to suicide despite the fact that it was also classified uncut at 18, I get the feeling that the cut made to Smile is part of a pattern in which images of suicide are being singled out specifically.

All that said, Channel 4 do deserve a bit of credit for correcting the much lower profile repeat. https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/falling-place

Update: There's no time left in the day for grown up viewing

9th November 2024. Thanks to Neil

There was a report commissioned by OFCOM in Oct 2023 which discussed research into attitudes towards sex and violence on UK TV - primarily using the watershed as a benchmark for when stronger content can be scheduled by broadcasters.

The broadcasting code, and the wider expectation of the general public as always been:

Whilst there were some initial calls to postpone the watershed to later in the evening to better reflect changing parenting styles, on greater reflection, participants decided a gradual transition from 9pm onwards and the use of clear warnings, was a better option.

In the instance of SMILE on Channel 4, the broadcaster deemed the expository explicit suicide as being too strong during the 9-10pm transition period, and hence why they decided to cut this scene to avoid reprimand from OFCOM.

I agree that Channel 4 should have scheduled this film later, given the 18 rating.

Ofcom wrote:

People's Forum: The Prime Minister
GB News, 12 February 2024, 20:00

Ofcom received 547 complaints about this live, hour-long current affairs programme which featured the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, in a question-and-answer session with a studio audience about the Government's policies and performance, in the context of the forthcoming UK General Election.

We considered that this constituted a matter of major political controversy and a major matter relating to current public policy. When covering major matters, all Ofcom licensees must comply with the heightened special impartiality requirements in the Code. These rules require broadcasters to include and give due weight to an appropriately wide range of significant views within a programme or in clearly linked and timely programmes.

Ofcom had no issue with this programme's format in principle. Broadcasters have freedom to decide the editorial approach of their programmes as long as they comply with the Code. We took into account factors such as: the audience's questions to the Prime Minister; his responses; the Presenter's contribution; and whether due impartiality was preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes. In this case:

• While some of the audience's questions provided some challenge to, and criticism of, the Government's policies and performance, audience members were not able to challenge the Prime Minister's responses and the Presenter did not do this to any meaningful extent.

• The Prime Minister was able to set out some future policies that his Government planned to implement, if re-elected in the forthcoming UK General Election. Neither the audience or the Presenter challenged or otherwise referred to significant alternative views on these.

• The Prime Minister criticised aspects of the Labour Party's policies and performance. While politicians are of course able to do this in programmes, licensees must ensure that due impartiality is preserved. Neither the Labour Party's views or positions on those issues, or any other significant views on those issues were included in the programme or given due weight.

• The Licensee did not, and was not able to, include a reference in the programme to an agreed future programme in which an appropriately wide range of significant views on the major matter would be presented and given due weight.

We found that an appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints was not presented and given due weight in this case. As a result, Rishi Sunak had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK General Election.

GB News failed to preserve due impartiality, in breach of Rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Code. Our decision is that this breach was serious and repeated.

We will therefore consider this breach for the imposition of a statutory sanction

Update: GB News to challege Ofcom's censorship in the courts

21st May 2024. See article from pressgazette.co.uk

A GB News spokesperson responded to the Ofcom censorship:

GB News has begun the formal legal process of challenging recent Ofcom decisions which go against journalists' and broadcasters' rights to make their own editorial judgements in line with the law and which also go against Ofcom's own rules.

Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression. Ofcom is also obliged to apply its rules fairly and lawfully. We believe that, for some time now, Ofcom has been operating in the exact opposite manner.

We cannot allow freedom of expression and media freedom to be trampled on in this way.

Freedom of the press is a civil right established by the British in the seventeenth century with the abolition of censorship and licensing of the printing press.

We refuse to stand by and allow this right to be threatened. As the People's Channel we champion this freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners, for everyone in the United Kingdom.

Ofsite Comment: Ofcom's contempt for GB News viewers

21st May 2024. See article from spiked-online.com by Andrew Tettenborn

How, you might ask, could a show featuring independently selected, non-aligned voters directly quizzing an embattled PM breach impartiality rules? The Ofcom ruling makes no sense, at least if you look at it from the perspective of the average, level-headed man or woman in the street. But then, the apparatchiks who run Ofcom are neither particularly level-headed nor remotely reflective of the average voter.

See article from spiked-online.com

Ofsite Comment: The real reason Ofcom has gone after GB News

27th May 2024. See article from spectator.co.uk by Toby Young