Finely balanced

Piers Morgan was rude and offensive about the Chinese language on Good Morning Britain back in January, and because he's Piers Morgan, has been told not to do it again by Ofcom.

I've often wondered what it would be like to work in the quasi-judicial world of my favourite quango. I couldn't begin to construct a 2,200-word judgement on an obvious foot-fault like this, but clearly there are those who take pleasure in paragraphs such as these:

This was a finely balanced decision in which Ofcom had to take careful account of the right to freedom of expression, and the degree to which these comments had the potential to cause offence, particularly to viewers of Chinese heritage. While our latest research shows that audiences have a particular concern about discriminatory content, it also shows they recognise the importance and value of freedom of expression in the regulation of potentially offensive content.

Having carefully considered the context within which the comments were broadcast and the action taken by ITV, including discussing these complaints with Piers Morgan and making a public apology, Ofcom concluded overall that this programme did not warrant further investigation under Rule 2.3 of the Code.

We remind ITV that there are compliance risks in relying on a “combative dynamic” between presenters as a way to provide challenge and context for the broadcast of content which may cause offence. This approach can provide significant context, as in this case. However, depending on the particular circumstances, this may not always provide sufficient context to comply with the Code.

Assessment outcome: Not pursued