ITC Annual Report

2000 Report

Upholding Standards

• Protecting the consumer
• Applying the Codes
• Code Reviews
• Programme and Advertising complaints

Protecting the consumer

The ITC seeks to ensure that UK television respects audience expectation of editorial standards and offers a system of redress where those standards are not met.

Most viewers believe that a primary purpose of broadcasting regulation is to ensure appropriate content standards are maintained. Above all, their concern is that children are protected from material that is harmful to them. BSC research in 2000 showed that 92 per cent of viewers think television regulation is a must and 61 per cent that its main role is to protect children (Regulation: The Changing Perspective).

The ITC has a statutory responsibility for setting such content standards in its Programme, Advertising and Sponsorship Codes and ensuring that the broadcasters meet them. The ITC also requires that its terrestrial licensees, both analogue and digital, broadcast services that achieve high standards of technical quality and reliability. These requirements are set out in a Technical Performance Code.

The explosion of television services over the past few years has provided challenges for the regulator, for the industry and for viewers. The regulator has to be better informed than ever about market developments and public expectations. Regulatory policy has to be sensitive to new service developments and to where consumer choices and attitudes are indicating that differing degrees of control by or on behalf of the end user are desirable. The process is evolutionary.

Broadcasters need good communication with their viewers and customers about where responsibility for content control lies in differing circumstances. For the majority of services coming through the TV set into the home, the broadcasters have to ensure that programmes and advertising comply with the Codes regarding content and time of transmission. Ensuring that there are properly trained and experienced staff to do this in such a rapidly expanding industry is itself a challenge.

For viewers, changes in the market and in the types of new services and their methods of delivery demand new approaches. For example, research and consultation indicates that viewers have lower expectations about the level of protection needed in relation to the elective content on interactive services, compared to traditional linear content. The ITC has reflected this by a relatively deregulatory approach in its policy statement on the regulation of interactive services which was published early in 2001.

Furthermore, the public still shows overwhelming support for the concept of ‘family viewing time’ and for the ‘watershed’. The ITC’s annual attitudes survey (Television: The Public’s View 2000) shows that 92 per cent of viewers and 94 per cent of parents know about the 9pm watershed. They continue to endorse its usefulness as an understood point of departure towards more adult content.

The ITC makes derogations from its usual rules for particular types of services where viewer detriment is minimal and individual control easily available and appropriate. For example, premium movie channels can show selected 15-rated films at 8pm rather than 9pm.

18-rated films are not allowed earlier than 10pm on any service, except for Pay-Per-View (PPV). Here the protection comes from a mandatory PIN or equivalent ordering system which puts the adult householder in charge of every order. The Communications White Paper endorses the continuing validity of applying the Codes to all broadcasters but requires OFCOM to reflect a hierarchy of viewer control and expectation in those Codes. This builds on the work of the ITC in terms of researching and consulting on new developments such as PPV and interactive services and applying the minimum necessary regulation to them, or, in the case of the internet, working with the industry’s own self-regulatory groups.

Applying the Codes

Programmes

Television remains the primary source of world news for UK citizens (Television: The Public’s View 2000 cites 72 per cent for television compared with 13 per cent for newspapers). The importance of news which is presented with due accuracy and impartiality is underscored in law and the Programme Code. The closer to an election the more critical adherence to the due impartiality requirements becomes.

In December, the ITV Network planned to transmit Ask the Prime Minister – an hour-long prime time interrogation of the Prime Minister’s record in Government. This was scheduled in the week prior to a closely contested by-election in Scotland. The ITC received complaints from the Scottish Nationalist Party, the Conservative Party, and from the Liberal Democrats, all requesting that balance be achieved. The ITC received no satisfactory assurance from Scottish Television – in whose transmission area the by-election was held – that planned programming would ensure that the due impartiality requirements would be met in the short time available. The Commission therefore issued a Direction to Scottish to provide proportionate opportunities for representatives of the other key parties in Scotland. Scottish complied and broadcast a special programme in the week of the by-election. The ITV Network separately transmitted early in 2001 a Dimbleby Special with William Hague and Charles Kennedy.

Only one licensee was subject to the imposition of a financial penalty in 2000 for a serious breach of the Programme Code. The channel was Babylon Blue and the fine of £10,000 was imposed following transmission of sexual material that was unsuitable for an unencrypted (ie, not scrambled) service. Despite being granted an extension, the Channel failed to pay the fine and its licence was revoked.

In 1999 the ITC had become concerned about the too rapid transition to more adult material after 9pm. Broadcasters generally improved their performance in this regard in 2000. However, the ITC identified a number of Code breaches relating to programmes in the early evening and up to 9pm. Channel 4 scheduled the series Angel at 6pm. While the Channel had edited the programmes for this slot, the ITC upheld 86 complaints about its unsuitability. The series was subsequently rescheduled. Among the increase in complaints about violence were a number about Coronation Street. The ITC identified one episode as having breached the Code. Instances of bad language and inappropriate sexual themes in the early evening also led to Code breaches in programmes on ITV (Salesmen from Hell) and Channel 5 (Family Confidential and the Movie Chart Show).

The subject of sexually explicit material arose with Channel 5 in two other respects – the first was an increase in the quantity of material on sexual themes in the middle of the year (see Channel 5’s Performance Review); the second concerned misjudgements about acceptable material. In the latter case the Code was breached in a number of programmes in the series X Certificate which reviewed adult sex films and which contained images which were too explicit for a non-specialist or non-adult channel.

The issue of language likely to cause particular offence to certain sections of the community led to guidance being given via the published Programme Complaints and Findings Report to all licensees. The ITC expects the sensitivities of ethnic communities to be taken into account by broadcasters. For example, staff monitoring picked up use of the word ‘punahny’, an offensive reference to female genitalia, in pre-watershed programmes. The first was ITV’s Celebrity! and at the MTV Europe Awards 2000 (MTV) Ali G used the same term and made remarks about pornographic films. MTV advised that Ali G was briefed in advance of transmission that his content must be suitable for broadcast before the watershed. As the 1999 Awards programme also breached the Code, the ITC advised MTV that the onus must therefore be on them to find ways to ensure its suitability for broadcast and failure to do so is likely to attract a sanction.

The potency of the strongest language to offend was re-affirmed in an important study –Delete Expletives?– jointly conducted by the ITC, BSC, BBC and the Advertising Standards Authority. One of the most useful regulatory pointers to emerge from this research was the increased sensitivity to terms of racial abuse with a term such as nigger moving from 11th to fifth in a table of offensive terms in just two years.

Advertising and Sponsorship:

As always, the protection of children in the advertising environment remained a priority for the ITC. Prompted by a number of cases in recent years of children copying dangerous or antisocial behaviour shown in commercials, (Dulux ‘Snip’; Bounty Kitchen Towels, Tango ‘Megaphone’, etc) the ITC commissioned independent research to probe the factors which could prompt children to emulate such behaviour. Professionals with wide experience of working with children, parents as well as children themselves took part in the research and the report, Copycat Kids?, was published in October 2000.

The ITC receives complaints about harmful stereotyping in advertising. These complaints relate to widely discussed issues such as racism and sexism but also include objections to negative portrayals of men, the elderly, people with weight problems, regional accents, etc. In order to understand the levels of offence caused by such stereotypes, the ITC commissioned a research study among a wide range of groups which are often stereotyped. The results have been helpful in identifying the kinds of portrayal which cause offence or distress and also the kinds which are accepted by the groups in question as harmless. The report of this research will be published in 2001.

The results from both these research studies will be used to provide guidance to help licensees and advertisers avoid the problems identified.

The ITC also contributed to the ongoing debates about advertising to children. It provided input at a European level, as well as to the Food Standards Agency in relation to the advertising of foods and to the British Medical Association’s debate about slimming and body image.

Code Reviews

Programmes

The Code review was completed in February 2001 following a consultation in mid-2000 and subsequent meetings with licensees in the autumn. The goal of the review was not radical change (as the Code had been reviewed in 1998) but an updating and regrouping of certain sections for ease of use.

It was also important that the Code incorporated any changes necessitated by the coming into force of the Human Rights Act. Additions were made to tighten up practice with regard to the conduct of interviews and more guidance included on having regard to the suitability of daytime programme content during school holidays.

Programme Sponsorship

The year saw the publication of a new streamlined and simplified Code of Programme Sponsorship. Following an extensive public consultation, the resulting Code separates the rules concerning programme sponsorship from other rules more generally concerned with advertiser involvement in programmes – for example, coverage of events and product placement.

The new Code also relaxed some of the rules concerning programme sponsorship credits. These included allowing telephone numbers, web site addresses and the representation of sponsor product in credits. However, the Commission remained committed to preserving the editorial integrity of programmes and continues to forbid sponsors from influencing the content and scheduling of programmes in such a way as to undermine the broadcaster’s responsibility.

The launch of the new Code was accompanied by a series of seminars for licensees involved in sponsorship, and the changes have been well received by all the interested parties.

Advertising Standards and Practice

2000 saw the start of a major review of the Advertising Code. In mid-year the ITC consulted on whether to retain the various prohibitions contained within the current Code. The results of this consultation were considered by the ITC’s Advertising Advisory Committee (AAC), and will be fed into the main review of the Code in 2001. In advance of the review, the ITC introduced a new rule which provided for the qualified lifting of the ban on advertising of medical helplines. This change has enabled advertising to take place for the Government’s NHS Direct initiative.

Technical Standards

The current broadcasting legislation requires the ITC to ensure that ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Digital Terrestrial Television services attain high standards of technical quality and reliability. The ITC Technical Performance Code sets out these standards. Following consultation, a thorough revision of this Code was published in December which is simpler, shorter and involves less detailed regulation by the ITC. Under this new regime the quality requirements are focused more clearly on public service broadcasting, and licensees are responsible for establishing their own documented quality procedures. Editorial responsibility for the detailed guidelines formally contained in the ITC Handbook of Technical Standards has now been taken over by the licensees.

Programme and Advertising complaints

Programme Complaints

Figure 5 shows, by category, complaints received by the ITC during 2000. The total of 3,912 rose very slightly over the 1999 figure (3,894). The majority of complaints concerned the most viewed terrestrial services, 93 per cent, and the number of complaints concerning cable and satellite programmes fell from 315 to 247. The most significant increase during 2000 was the rise in complaints relating to violence on television, rising to 7.8 per cent of the total compared with 4.1 per cent in 1999. The complaints concerned a variety of programmes but resulted in only one breach in an episode of Coronation Street. Complaints about other taste and decency issues fell from 33 per cent of the total to 28 per cent during the year, even though this still remained the highest complaint category. Some 69 complaints were upheld concerning the scheduling of The Jerry Springer Show shown for a period on ITV at 9.25am, an unfamiliar place in the schedule and at a time when a number of schools were closed for the Easter break. The percentage of complaints about bad language remained constant at under 5 per cent. The largest rise in complaints for the year occurred in the category of scheduling. The majority of these complaints in this category – for example, the scheduling of sporting events on ITV2 and the late start-time of scheduled programmes – fell outside the ITC’s remit.

Throughout the year the ITC upheld wholly or in part 244 complaints about 34 programmes, and intervened, without public complaint, in a further nine. Details of these and of those programmes which attracted significant complaints not leading to interventions were published in the monthly Programme Complaints and Findings Reports.

Licensee Complaints

The Commission attaches importance to licensees’ own arrangements for handling complaints and specific conditions apply to all programme licences. Records must be kept for two years and released, for inspection by the ITC, on request. As a means of identifying programmes which have caused particular concern on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 or Teletext, each licensee has to notify the ITC when a single programme generates more than a predetermined number of complaints. The licensee then reports to the Commission on the nature of the complaints and how they have been handled. (see Figure 6)

fig 6
Licensee Complaints Received 2000

Advertising Complaints

Last year’s Annual Report noted the rise in complaints from viewers who claimed that a television advertisement had been misleading. This trend continued in 2000, reflecting both the increasing complexity of advertising propositions, and a growing readiness by viewers to challenge advertising claims where they believe that the whole truth has not been presented. There is no better illustration of this than the Government’s Nursing Recruitment advertisement which became the second most complained about advertisement in 2000 (see Figure 7). Another case involving alleged misleadingness (ntl:world – unavailability of advertised internet service: 92 complaints) also made the Top 10 complained about advertisements.

In all, received complaints about misleading advertising rose by over 5 per cent in 2000 to 2,271, whilst those involving viewers being offended by television advertisements fell for the second year running, down 10 per cent to 2,671. (see Figure 8) The remaining two categories both saw steep rises in numbers of complaints. A total of 1,770 complaints (a rise of 51 per cent over 1999) were received about harmful advertising, involving topics such as harmful stereotyping, antisocial behaviour and risks of harmful actions being copied by children. Of particular concern was the advertisement for Tango Orange, which attracted 84 complaints, and which appeared to encourage and condone bullying, especially of overweight children. The ITC required the immediate withdrawal of the advertisement. The doubling of complaints in the ‘miscellaneous’ category to 944 reflected in part a record 235 complaints that advertising breaks were too loud. Many of these complaints were forwarded to us by The Daily Express in response to its call for a show of public feeling about the issue.

In all, the ITC received 7,632 complaints about advertising in 2000, an increase of 14 per cent over 1999. The number of upheld complaints rose to 154, from 113 in 1999. This was accounted for mainly by a marked rise in the number of upheld cases about misleading advertising to 96.

Among the most complained about advertisements in 2000, 155 viewers, nearly all nurses, complained to the ITC that an advertisement for Nursing Recruitment exaggerated the claimed average earnings of NHS nurses. The ITC found that the claim ‘...the average full-time qualified nurse earns over £20,000 per year...’ gave a misleading impression of the level of nurses’ pay, with a substantial proportion of nurses earning significantly less than £20,000.

A male ceremonial dance, one of the Maori hakas made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, in an advertisement for Reef alcoholic drink, became the focus of 116 complaints from viewers, most of Maori or New Zealand origins. They complained of deep offence to their culture because the dance was shown being performed by women, and was being associated with an alcoholic drink. The ITC upheld the complaints.

Finally, an advertisement for Red Devil, an energy drink, featuring the footballer Vinnie Jones inducing a mock-up robin to fly into a window pane, attracted the most complaints of the year (390 - not upheld) on grounds of animal cruelty and/or possible harmful emulation. The ITC did not consider that the clearly make-believe advertisement was unacceptable for broadcast and did not uphold the complaints.

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