Ofcom May Allow Politically Biased News

On the subject of de-regulation, worrying noises coming from Ofcom:

BSkyB and other commercial broadcasters, apart from ITV, Channel 4 and Five, could be allowed to produce politically slanted news programmes from 2012, the broadcast regulator Ofcom said yesterday.

The idea could pave the way for Iran’s news channel Press TV on cable or satellite, or broadcasters with a party political affiliation such as the pro-Conservative 18DoughtyStreet.com.

Ofcom, in a consultation document entitled New News, Future News, said that the “enormous expansion in the number of television news services available raises questions about the continuing relevance of rules on impartiality” because every new news channel adopted a similar approach. (The Times)

Fox News is on its way, bet The Times was over the moon when it received this piece of news. They also added at the bottom of their report the following:

The regulator is calling for responses and the replies generated will feed into a review of the future of public service broadcasting in the UK.

Typically, they give no information on how to respond to Ofcom, so I have hunted through their website (not an easy task) to find out how you can voice your concerns about this move.

You can read their News Release here.

To give your feedback contact john.glover@ofcom.org.uk

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