Chris Moyles' BBCR1 controversies

Marking the end of his reign as breakfast DJ, the Guardian compiled a useful top 10 of his most controversial incidents, several of which involved OfCom - they're also useful for highlighting the grey area that exists over the regulation of the BBC. Is it self-regulated or externally regulated by the quango OfCom? The answer remains a bit of both, though there is strong desire amongst those who see the BBC as ideologically wrong (as a state-owned media group potentially distorting the free market for commercial media groups) to hand OfCom complete responsibility.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/11/chris-moyles-top-10-controversial-moments.

Tories'/Right-Wing hostility to BBC

The BBC complicates the picture of TV regulation: OfCom now oversee its compliance with 'standards and decency' regulations (cases such as Sachsgate and Chris Moyles' swearing + homophobic remarks, for example) while the BBC otherwise governs itself (in other words, self regulation) on organisational issues over budgets, technology, station policies etc.

Whilst every other channel is funded by advertising and/or subscription fees, the BBC is unique in being funded by the license fee, a form of tax. This makes it 'public owned' (effectively owned by the state); instead of being part of the 'private sector' it is part of the 'public sector'.

Right-wing dogma sees the public sector as inefficient and inferior to private enterprise, ie 'the free market'. Sky was able to develop satellite/digital subscription-TV because as a private company it is innovative. The BBC, according to this ideology, is an inefficient organisation which fails to innovate; it would be improved if it was privatised - sold off to business investors, traded on the stock market. That ignores the reality that the BBC, with Freeview, the iPlayer and its world-famous web content, not to mention its extensive programme sales to America and elsewhere across the world, channels such as BBC America, and much more besides, actually puts the BBC right at the top of any fair-minded list of broadcast innovators. The BBC also effectively acts as the main source of training for the engineers, editors, cameraman, presenters and suchlike that are then used by all the private media outfits in the UK.

So, the Conservatives, a right-wing party who believe in free market ideology, have long desired to see it sold off to become a private enterprise instead of a state-owned one. This is actually whats happened across most of Europe and America: if the state broadcaster hasn't actually been privatised, in most cases their funding has been slashed to make them a minor outfit instead of a serious rival to commercial, ad-funded broadcasters.

They have also routinely accused the BBC of having a left-wing bias: in the 1980s Tory Chairman Lord Tebbit famously called the BBC the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation (the Russian Communists were Bolsheviks), while in May 2012 Tory Lord Mayor of London Boris Johnson once more accused the Beeb of being left-wing.

In 1985 Thatcher appointed Lord Peacock to report on the UK TV industry, assuming as a right-wing free-marketeer he'd suggest privatising the BBC, or at least scrapping the license fee and making it rely on advertisers for revenue. Right-wingers see state-owned companies as distorting the free market, and providing unfair competition. Private media operators naturally agree, and would love to see the BBC scrapped, privatised or shrunk in size - one of the reasons the Daily Mail constantly attacks the BBC is thought to be down to its own company's ambitions to break into TV ownership. The 1986 Peacock Report shocked Thatcher by stating very clearly that an unregulated free market would be a disaster for UK TV: it would lead to an utter dumbing down of TV content. He said he disliked the license fee, but it was better than advertiser-funding which would also ensure standards would drop as higher audiences were chased rather than higher programme standards.

In the lead-up to the 2010 general election, the Tories, especially David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt, frequently stated their intention to tackle the BBC: to reduce it in size (including shutting several of its radio/TV stations), cut the license fee, ban it from bidding for many sports rights (if they did, the likes of Sky would save a fortune as there'd be less competition; fewer bidders), stop it paying for expensive American imports, reduce or even scrap its web content, force it to sell of profit-making subsidaries and some stations, and so on and so forth. Notoriously, in an act that looks all the worse given the accusations of collusion between Hunt and News Corp, Hunt and Cameron both stated their support for James Murdoch's speech (and said they would scrap OfCom, which Murdoch said should go) at the 2010 MacTaggart lecture. In office, both have continued to attack the BBC as 'bloated', oversized and inefficient, and Hunt broke with political convention by dictating, not negotiating, the BBC's budget for the next several years, including a large reduction.

Hunt has frequently indicated support for 'top-slicing': using some of the BBC's budget (from the license fee) to support other private broadcasters.

I'll add a fairly extensive set of links (over time!) below; here's a snippet from James Murdoch's 2010 speech:

James Murdoch tonight launched a scathing attack on the BBC, describing the corporation's size and ambitions as "chilling" and accusing it of mounting a "land grab" in a beleaguered media market.
News Corporation's chairman and chief executive in Europe and Asia also heavily criticised media industry regulator Ofcom, the European Union and the government, accusing the latter of "dithering" and failing to protect British companies from the threat of online piracy.
Delivering the MacTaggart lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 20 years after his father Rupert, Murdoch described UK broadcasting as "the Addams Family of world media", comparing it unfavourably with the industries in India and France and complaining about the "astonishing" burden of regulation placed on BSkyB, the pay-TV giant he chairs. "Every year, roughly half a million words are devoted to telling broadcasters what they can and cannot say," he said.
However, his most withering comments were reserved for the BBC. "The corporation is incapable of distinguishing between what is good for it, and what is good for the country," he clamed. "Funded by a hypothecated tax, the BBC feels empowered to offer something for everyone, even in areas well served by the market. The scope of its activities and ambitions is chilling."

MAY 2012: CAMERON'S PRESS SPOKESPERSON ACCUSES BBC OF ANTI-TORY BIAS: Just updating this post with an article which rather handily captures this point about traditional Tory suspicion of the BBC; their belief that it is not balanced but rather a leftie, biased news reporter. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/28/cameron-media-chief-rebukes-bbc-reporter?intcmp=239. The following vid may be taken down; it was up when I wrote this:


TIMELINE OF HUNT/CAMERON'S LINKS WITH MURDOCH/NEWS CORP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/24/leveson-inquiry-jeremy-hunt;
Hunt delays new media green paper (May 2012);

2008: CAMERON WRITES IN SUN TO ATTACK BBC: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/1884401/Bloated-BBC-out-of-tough-with-the-viewers-says-Tory-chief-David-Cameron.html;

NICK DAVIES, THE KEY GUARDIAN JOURNALIST WHO BROKE THE HACKGATE STORY ON THE HUNT/MURDOCH LINKS: http://www.nickdavies.net/2012/05/01/hacking-scandal-reaches-for-the-heart-of-government/;

MAY 2012: BORIS JOHNSON ATTACKS BBC
A fresh item from May 28th, in which Boris Johnson's press spokesperson directly threatens the BBC with flak from the right-wing press, to be partly organised by PM Cameron:

Boris Johnson's former communications chief threatened to use his contacts in the press to confront the BBC over its coverage of the Conservative mayor of London, suggesting that "good friends in No 10" could also be deployed against them, emails leaked to the Guardian reveal.
The threat of a "huge public fight" was levelled at senior BBC figures by Guto Harri, a former BBC correspondent himself, who announced last week that he was moving to become director of communications at News International.
Harri's suggestion that Downing Street was also ready to put pressure on the public service broadcaster raises questions about the Tories' tactics against the BBC and the extent of the pressure City Hall has exerted in its attempts to influence coverage.

 Johnson says in this article:

Quipping that he had just fought an election campaign "in which I sometimes felt that my chief opponent was the local [London] BBC news", Johnson wrote: "The prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and above all, overwhelmingly biased to the left."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/davehillblog/2012/may/14/boris-johnson-attacks-bbc;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/14/boris-johnson-bbc-boss-tory;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/15/leftwing-bias-bbc-myth;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2012/apr/30/boris-johnson-swears-bbc-news-international-video;

2010 JAMES MURDOCH MACTAGGART LECTURE AT EDINBURGH
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/28/james-murdoch-bbc-mactaggart-edinburgh-tv-festival;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2010/aug/30/steve-hewlett-edinburgh-murdoch;

OfCom rulings [post contains some strong language]

Jason Gardiner (Dancing on Ice judge) garnered 3,500 complaints to OfCom about his bullying, sexist behaviour towards fellow judge Karen Barber.
Interesting how they responded - note the similarities to PCC style: they spoke to the producers, who spoke to Gardiner and reported back that the matter had been resolved internally; OfCom announced there was no need for a formal ruling.

The Frankie Boyle case on on Tramadol Nights: he made a joke about Katie Price's 8-yr-old handicapped child. OfCom recieved 500 complaints. C4 had written to Price, but she went to OfCom, who stated that the 7.12.2010 programme was preceded by a warning about the "very strong language" and ruled the show had NOT broken their programming code.: 'The comedian Frankie Boyle has been rapped over the knuckles for "offensive" jokes he made on Channel 4 about Katie Price's disabled eight-year-old child, Harvey.
During an episode of the comedy Tramadol Nights, Boyle joked: "Jordan and Peter Andre are still fighting each other over custody of Harvey - eventually one of them will lose and have to keep him."
He then added: "I have a theory about the reason Jordan married a cage fighter - she needed a man strong enough to stop Harvey from fucking her."
Media regulator Ofcom received more than 500 complaints about the joke, including one from Price – once better known as the glamour model Jordan - who posted on her website: "To bully this unbelievably brave child is despicable, to broadcast it on television is to show a complete and utter lack of judgment".
But although Ofcom has condemned Boyle and Channel 4 for breaching broadcasting rules, it has not imposed any punishment, such as a fine or on-air apology.
Channel 4 argued at the time that the comments were merely satirical and absurdist. Chief executive David Abraham personally sanctioned the episode before it was broadcast.
The broadcaster also claimed Boyle was making fun of Price, better known as former-glamour model Jordan, for her "exploitation of her children for publicity purposes".
But Ofcom ruled that this did "not provide broadcasters with unlimited licence... This position applies even more firmly in a case in which the child is as young as eight years old, and has a number of disabilities which are specifically focussed on".
Boyle has been in trouble before for jokes about Downs Syndrome sufferers, Olympian Rebecca Adlington's looks and the Cumbria massacre.'
Read OfCom ruling here.

OfCom revoked the licenses of four adult channels [ie porn] for repeatedly broadcasting porn pre-watershed. from the Guardian: 'Ofcom said the ruling should act as a warning to other adult channels, such as Richard Desmond's Television X and Babestation. The regulator plans to meet all licensees in this sector to ensure they are serious about adhering to the broadcasting code.
In July, Ofcom fined London-based Tease Me owners Bang Channels Limited and Bang Media Limited a total of £157,250 for "manifest recklessness" in its compliance system.
More than 60 individual breaches have been committed by the channels in the past 18 months, Ofcom revealed today.
Last week Ofcom suspended transmission of Tease Me, Tease Me TV, and Tease Me 2 and Tease Me 3. Today the regulator revoked their licences with immediate effect.'

The X Factor final 2010 was at the very edge of acceptability for pre-watershed, but ultimately DIDN'T break the code. 'The "sexualised" pre-watershed scenes, aired in December on ITV1 at the end of the seventh series, sparked 2,868 complaints to the media regulator.' 't stated that Rihanna's performance on the same night, where she removed a wraparound dress to parade on stage in a bikini, was not inappropriate for the time when it was broadcast.
But it said that Aguilera's burlesque-style routine "was at the very margin of acceptability for broadcast before the 9pm watershed and especially" when it was repeated at 9.30am the next day.
It has now asked ITV to attend a meeting on the issue. As a result of the broadcast, Ofcom also wants broadcasters who intend to transmit similar material to meet the watchdog to discuss whether it complies with the broadcasting code.
Viewers complained that the material should not have been on "a family show", and that the raunchy content was "too sexually explicit and inappropriate for the young audience".
But ITV said that burlesque routines had become "almost mainstream" and that it had used certain camera angles and wide shots to minimise potential offence following rehearsals.'

Chris Moyles [radio eg] has been repeatedly censured by OfCom, showing the OfCom/BBC overlap. In this case, it was for a reference to 'gay' and Will Young. He changed the words of 2 Will Young songs, singing them in a camp fashion. The BBC defended him, but OfCom found him guilty having received 8 complaints: 'Ofcom received eight complaints from listeners who said Moyles's spoof lyrics were offensive and derogatory towards the gay community.
The BBC acknowledged that the comments had been misjudged and unacceptable, adding that Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt had spoken to Moyles and his production team about the matter. Parfitt has also written to Moyles's agent to make clear the material was unacceptable, the corporation said.
But the BBC, in its response to Ofcom, denied that Young was ridiculed because of his sexuality.
"[The BBC] said regular listeners to the programme will have been aware that Will Young has been a guest on the show a number of times. The audience in general would have been clear that such remarks were not intended to be taken as hostile or derogatory," Ofcom said today in its ruling.
Ofcom added that it recognised that Moyles's show was "well known for its irreverent style and humour", but said in its opinion his comments were "clearly based on the singer's sexuality and therefore capable of giving offence".
Moyles was censured by Ofcom in 2006 after he told a caller to his breakfast show "You've got some kids from some fucking...", before tailing off. But in the same year he was defended by the BBC governors – the predecessor of the BBC Trust – after he described a ringtone as "gay".
The governors said he was justified in using the word to mean "lame or rubbish" because its playground meaning had changed for many children.'

Zac Goldsmith was furious after OfCom rejected his complaint.

Bang Media - 4 of their adult 'Tease Me' channels had their licenses revoked. They'd been found guilty of over 60 violations of the Communications Act 2003 Section 3 (protection of the public from harmful material, and especially vulnerable children). They had been fined £160,000 previously, but were banned for broadcasting what OfCom described as R18-strength porn pre-watershed.

C4 doc The Great Global Warming Swindle, broadcast 8.3.2007, saw OfCom receive 256 complaints (C4 took 758 calls and emails of which 1 in 6 was in favour). OfCom found the programme to be within the code.

Wayne Rooney's swearing rant, broadcast live by Sky Sports in April 2011, was seen as NOT a breach of the code as Sky took every possible step to diminish the imact, quicky cutting away, but OfCom released a letter to viewers on this.