Ofcom boss Melanie Dawes has got her feet under the table, and has casually revealed that she's applying lower standards on delivering on impartiality to GB News than the BBC. "The standard for someone like the BBC, which reaches still 70 per cent of the TV viewing audience, [for] the news is a different one from that of a channel that has an audience of maybe four or five per cent of the viewing public. We expect different things. And I think that’s appropriate.”
She's backed up by the rubric around the Ofcom Code:
When applying the Code to content, broadcasters should be aware that the context in which the material appears is key. In setting this Code, Ofcom has taken into account (as required by section 319(4) of the Act) the following:
(a) the degree of harm and offence likely to be caused by the inclusion of any particular sort of material in programmes generally or in programmes of a particular description;
(b) the likely size and composition of the potential audience for programmes included in television and radio services generally or in television and radio services of a particular description;
(c) the likely expectation of the audience as to the nature of a programme’s content and the extent to which the nature of a programme’s content can be brought to the attention of potential members of the audience;
So size of audience has always been a consideration, she says. Not really, Melanie. Why hound RT out of existence ? Why bother to fine the Islam Channel, with a monthly reach of 200,000 ? Why close down Khalsa TV ?
And if size of audience was always a consideration, why ever lay into Newsnight ?
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