Ofcom decided that Ms G’s son
was not identifiable to anyone save for
those few who knew him. It was not
clear to Ofcom that it was the footage,
rather than comments on social media,
that led to the identification of Ms G’s
son and him being attacked, taunted
at school and labelled a gang member.
Accordingly, the broadcast was not
unfair to him, as those who were able
to identify him would already know
about the circumstances surrounding
the incident and his presence at it.
Ofcom also found no unwarranted
infringement of privacy. Ofcom noted that being in a public place and
being involved in or a witness to a
crime does not automatically deprive
an individual of a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the circumstances could reasonably be considered a
sensitive situation. It was additionally noted that special care must be
taken in relation to the privacy of
those aged under 16.
Nonetheless, Ofcom found Ms G’s
son had no reasonable expectation of
privacy. It was material that the footage was obtained by Channel 4 News
to highlight the increased use of knives
by London gangs, rather than to focus
on any individual.
In particular, as Ms G’s son was
not readily identifiable to an ordinary
viewer, he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to the
obtaining of the footage, nor in relation to its broadcast.
This is an interesting case as, in
spite of Ms G’s son being under 16,
and there apparently having been consequences for him as a result of being
identified, no breach was found. Channel 4 News was able to demonstrate
the lengths it had gone to in order to
ensure the footage was obtained properly and that blurring technique s were
used where necessary.
Programme-makers should always
seek advice from an experienced lawyer
on these matters to ensure they do not
fall foul of the numerous laws at play
in this area, which include contempt,
reporting restrictions, privacy and data
protection law.
OFCOM – HARM AND
OFFENCE: Harry Hill’s TV
Burp – repeat in breach
n Ofcom has found an episode of
Harry Hill’s TV Burp, aired on the
channel Dave, to be in breach of the
Ofcom Broadcasting Code’s rules on
harm and offence. The episode had
previously transmitted on ITV in
2008 and although complaints were
made then, they were not upheld.
The show referred to a documentary entitled The Pregnant Man on
Channel 4 about Thomas Beatie, a
transgender male able to conceive and
carry a baby because he had retained
his female reproductive organs. The
item intercut clips of the documentary with narration from Harry Hill.
The content became increasingly surreal, culminating in Harry Hill wearing an oxygen mask and giving birth
to a doll which was told to call him
‘mummy’ instead of ‘dada’.
The complainant, a member of the public, considered that the item
was offensive and
discriminatory
towards
the
transgender
c o m m u n i t y.
Ofcom considered
the
material under Rule 2.3 of
the Broadcasting
Code, which requires broadcasters to
ensure that material which
may cause offence is justified by
the context.
In its defence, the broadcaster argued that the segment mocked the
sensationalist title The Pregnant Man,
as opposed to Mr Beatie himself. It
also pointed out that they had removed one minute of potentially offensive material from the original cut
of the programme before broadcast,
which in their view did stray towards
mocking Mr Beatie. It also argued
that the audience would understand
GAVE BIRTH TO A DOLL: HARRY HILL
the surreal nature of Harry Hill’s material, and that while his comments
were absurd and juvenile, they were
not intended to cause offence or be
discriminatory. However, in response
to the complaint, the broadcaster accepted that attitudes had changed
since 2008, when
the show originally aired, and
said that they
had
already
removed the
item
from
future broadcasts of the programme.
Ofcom
disagreed with the broadcaster, finding that the
item had directly mocked Mr
Beatie. Ofcom stated that although
there is significant room for innovation, creativity and challenging material, broadcasters do not have an unlimited licence to be offensive. Ofcom
also noted that the transgender community has ‘protected characteristics’
under equality law and highlighted
references in the programme such as
‘Victorian freak show’ and ‘Oh I see –
it’s a woman with a beard’ as likely to
be highly offensive to the transgender
The content
became
increasingly surreal,
culminating in Hill
wearing an oxygen
mask and giving
birth to a doll
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