Ofcom Content Board

The Content Board is a committee of the main Board and it sets and enforces quality and standards for television and radio. It has members representing each of the countries in the UK, and includes members with extensive broadcasting experience. It is charged with understanding, analysing and championing the voices and interest of the viewer, the listener and citizen.

Functions and role

The Content Board is a committee of the main Ofcom Board, with delegated and advisory responsibility for a wide range of content issues, predominantly dealing with broadcasting. It is set up under statute, specifically Section 12(1) of the Communications Act 2003.

The Ofcom Board will seek advice and recommendations from the Content Board on any content-related aspects of decisions it has reserved for itself. All other content-related decisions are delegated to the Content Board.

The Content Board serves as Ofcom's primary forum for the regulation of television and radio quality and standards. It is charged with understanding, analysing and championing the voices and interest of the viewer, the listener and citizen. It will examine issues where the citizen interest extends beyond the consumer interest, with focus on those aspects of the public interest which competition and market forces do not reach.

Content Board members will consider content issues in three categories:

Tier 1 concerns negative content regulation. It covers matters principally concerning harm and offence, accuracy and impartiality, fairness and privacy.

Tier 2 relates to quantitative matters, such as quotas for independent television production, regional production and original EU/UK production.

Tier 3 covers the public service broadcasters; and in this context Ofcom has particular responsibility for ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

Members will also consider format regulation for radio and will advise the Ofcom Board on other issues as required.

The majority of Content Board members are part-time and drawn from diverse backgrounds across the UK. Four are appointed to represent to Ofcom the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions.

Meeting dates

Members

Dr Aled Eirug

Aled Eirug joined the Content Board with effect from December 2015. He is also a freelance strategic policy adviser and works for Swansea University and other clients. He was a member of the governing authority for the Welsh language broadcasting service, S4C (2012 -2015), chairman of the British Council’s advisory committee for Wales (2012-2015) and a member of the British Council’s Board of Trustees (2013-2015).

He is an experienced journalist and broadcaster with over 30 years experience in ITV and the BBC, and was for 14 years BBC Wales’ Head of News and Current Affairs and a member of BBC Wales’ Board of Management. He has extensive experience of radio, television and online production across news, current affairs and documentary making, and is at present researching a PhD on aspects of the First World War.

Aled Eirug is the Content Board member for Wales.

Tony Close

Tony Close joined Ofcom in 2003. He is currently Ofcom’s Director of Content Standards, Licensing & Enforcement.

Tony is responsible for broadcast licensing and for setting and enforcing content standards for television, radio and on demand services. He oversees Ofcom's role promoting audience safety, inclusion and assurance in broadcasting and online environments. Tony is also an executive member of Ofcom’s Content Board which is charged with understanding, analysing and championing the voices and interests of the viewer, the listener and citizen.

Janey Walker

Janey Walker is Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors at the University of Brighton. She was Managing Director of the Indie Training Fund from 2014-2016, providing television training for many of the UK's leading indies. Janey was Director of IGGY at the University of Warwick from 2011-2013 and launched its award-winning online network for gifted teenagers.

Janey worked at Channel 4 from 1996-2010. She was Managing Editor for Commissioning from 2000 as well as Head of Education from 2006. She was Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Arts and Music 1996-2000. Janey worked in the independent sector 1994-1996 and at the BBC from 1982-1994.

Robin Foster

Robin is an expert in media policy, regulation and strategy, and a founder of Communications Chambers, a consultancy specialising in telecoms and media policy and regulation. He has a long interest and involvement in the UK media sector, and currently advises governments and regulatory authorities outside of the UK. Until December 2015 he was an independent member of the ATVOD Board, and is currently a member of BCAP’s Advertising Advisory Committee.

From 1993 to 2005, he held senior level strategy positions at the BBC, the Independent Television Commission and Ofcom. More recently he has served on a number of advisory boards including the Digital Britain Board, Ofcom’s Spectrum Advisory Board and ComReg’s expert advisory panel. He was also special adviser to the House of Lords Communications Committee for their inquiry into media convergence.

Robin has written extensively on trends and changes in media markets, and the implication of digital and social media for the future shape and health of UK broadcasting. His recent publications include reports on the UK creative sector, the future of TV news, and the impact of digital intermediaries on news plurality.

Kevin Bakhurst

Kevin Bakhurst joined Ofcom as Group Director for the Content and Media Policy Group on 31 October 2016. Previously he was the Deputy Director General and Managing Director of News and Current Affairs at RTE, the Irish public service broadcaster. Kevin has also spent a significant period with the BBC, where his roles included Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom and Controller of the BBC News Channel. He also held several key editorial positions with the BBC including as Editor of the Ten O’Clock News and as Assistant Editor of the Nine O’Clock News. He started he career with Price Waterhouse.

Tim Suter

Tim Suter was appointed to the Ofcom Board with effect from 2 October 2017. He is currently Chairman of the Content Board and a member of the Remuneration Committee and Nominations Committee.

Tim Suter was a BBC producer, editor and senior manager for 15 years, working across television, radio and on-line and in genres as diverse as drama, documentary and current affairs.

In 2002 he was appointed Head of Broadcasting Policy in the Department for Culture Media and Sport, responsible for the Communications Act of 2003 that overhauled the policy approach to the converging industries of media and telecommunications and included the creation of the converged regulator, Ofcom.

Tim joined Ofcom at its inception in 2003 as the founding Partner for Content and Standards, overseeing the regulation of all broadcast content, the development of policy and its implementation. After five years at Ofcom, Tim left to found Perspective Associates, advising media companies, governments and regulators on media policy and regulation. As well as working with major international media companies across the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Tim has also been a special advisor to the House of Lords Communications Committee, and the chair of an expert panel advising the Council of Europe of the governance of Public Service Media.

Monisha Shah

Monisha is an experienced arts and media executive, who has held prominent roles on a number of high-profile commercial and public-sector Boards.

She is the current Chair of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance; a Non-Executive Director of Imagen, a media management technology company; and an Independent Board Director of the publishing company Next Mediaworks.

Monisha is a current Trustee of the ArtFund and served as Trustee of Tate from July 2007 – 2015. She was also Tate’s liaison Trustee on the Board of the National Gallery, and has served on the Boards of the Foundling Museum and ArtUK. Monisha worked at BBC Worldwide for 10 years before stepping down in 2010.

Jonathan Baker

Jonathan brings over 40 years’ journalism experience, and is currently the founding Professor of Journalism at the University of Essex.

He began his career as a reporter at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, before joining the BBC, where he held several roles in radio and TV news. He was Editor of the Nine O’Clock News bulletin when it moved to its current Ten O’Clock slot, where it received multiple BAFTA and Royal Television Society Awards under his editorship.

Jonathan also spent five years as BBC World News Editor, later becoming Deputy Head of the wider Newsgathering department. He was also appointed Head of the College of Journalism, with responsibility for training 8,000 BBC journalists.

Angelina Fusco

Angelina Fusco is an independent media and journalism training consultant living in Northern Ireland. She works as an associate trainer with Channel56, a locally based communications company. She has been a journalist for 40 years and spent more than 30 years in the Belfast newsroom of BBC Northern Ireland holding a variety of roles from regional journalist, producer, News Organiser and Editor Newsgathering. For 15 years she was Editor of the BBC NI’s TV News brand’ ‘BBC Newsline’. As Editor she faced challenging ethical, editorial and legal dilemmas on a regular basis. During that time the BBC Newsline team won two IFTAs for best news programme and was nominated for several RTS awards. Angelina played a leading role in the introduction of transformational digital technologies, changing work practices as well as introducing social media platforms to the newsroom. She spent a year as a trainer at the BBC’s College of Journalism in London and in 2012 was awarded an Ochberg Fellowship on Journalism & Trauma from the Dart Centre, Columbia University, NYC. Since leaving the BBC in 2013 Angelina has delivered journalism and trauma awareness training in Ukraine, Armenia and the UK.

Angelina is a member of the Board of Tourism NI and is on the Northern Ireland Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Angelina is the Content Board member for Northern Ireland.

Maggie Cunningham

Maggie Cunningham is the Content Board member representing the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland. Maggie worked at a senior level in the BBC for over twenty years. Her roles included Head of Radio, Scotland and Joint Head of Programmes and Services, Scotland. Since 2009, she has worked as a leadership and executive coach. She chaired the Board of MG Alba for six years from July 2012. She is a founding Board member of Sistema Scotland, an independent member of the Edinburgh Festivals’ Forum and a member of the Scottish Government’s Women and Girls in Sport Advisory Panel.

Bob Downes

Bob Downes is the current chairman of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and of CENSIS, an innovation centre for sensors and imaging systems. Bob is a trustee of the Mackintosh Campus Renewal Appeal for Glasgow School of Art, and an advisor to a number of small technology businesses. Formerly he was a senior executive with BT Group. He is currently an interim member of Ofcom’s Content Board.

Sophie Morgan

Sophie is a television presenter and entrepreneur. She is a lead presenter of all live Paralympic sport on Channel 4, and has presented events including the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2017 Winter Paralympics. Sophie has also presented a range of other programmes such as Unreported World, Tricks of the Restaurant Trade and Best Laid Plans. She is also a consultant working to improve disability representation.

Sophie, who was paralysed from the chest down aged 18, has twice been voted one of the top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK. An active campaigner, Sophie is a patron of the charity Scope and an ambassador for Human Rights Watch, Leonard Cheshire and Lumos.

Minutes and notes of Ofcom Content Board meetings

Minutes of the 152nd Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 10 July 2018 (PDF, 409.1 KB)

Minutes of the 151st Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 5 June 2018 (PDF, 405.7 KB)

Minutes of the 150th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 24 April 2018 (PDF, 410.4 KB)

Minutes of the 149th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 6 March 2018 (PDF, 414.8 KB)

Minutes of the 148th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 30 January 2018 (PDF, 411.6 KB)

Minutes of the 147th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 12 December 2017 (PDF, 411.8 KB)

Minutes of the 146th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 31 October 2017 (PDF, 147.2 KB)

Minutes of the 145th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 12 September 2017 (PDF, 146.4 KB)

Minutes of the 144th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 11 July 2017 (PDF, 238.7 KB)

Minutes of the 143rd Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 6 June 2017 (PDF, 247.8 KB)

Minutes of the 142nd Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 25 April 2017 (PDF, 237.0 KB)