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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.
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.
12 December 2017
30 January 2018
6 March 2018
24 April 2018
5 June 2018
10 July 2018
25 September 2018
6 November 2018
18 December 2018
Nick Pollard was appointed to the Content Board in April 2016. He was appointed as an Ofcom Board Member and as Chairman of the Content Board with effect from 14 November 2016. Nick Pollard has had a long career as a journalist and broadcasting executive. He started his career as a local paper reporter on Merseyside and spent nearly ten years in newspapers and radio before joining BBC Television News in 1977. He subsequently became Executive Producer of News at Ten during more than a decade at ITN and spent ten years as Head of Sky News during which it won numerous awards for its coverage of major news events including the death of Princess Diana, the September 11th attacks in 2001, the Iraq War and the London bombings. He recently retired from the post of Chief Executive of SSVC, the organisation that runs the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
Nick led the independent inquiry into the BBC's handling of the Newsnight-Jimmy Savile story in 2012. He is a former chairman of the Royal Television Society's Journalism Awards and a recipient of the RTS's Lifetime Achievement Award for Television Journalism.
Nick is a member of the Nominations Committee and Remuneration Committee.
Professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science; Deputy Director, CREATe, RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy.
He joined Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Scotland on its formation in 2004 and was Chairman from 2009-2014.
He has held academic posts in the UK and visiting chairs and fellowships in France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. His research ranges across media and culture and has been extensively published and translated. He is on the editorial boards of numerous academic journals and advises several research projects.
He has conducted academic research funded by the AHRC, ESRC and European Commission and other bodies. He has led consultancy and research projects, amongst others for the UK Government’s Know How Fund, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the European Institute for the Media, the Home Office, the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Arts Council and Creative Scotland.
His most recent, co-authored, books are The Rise and Fall of the UK Film Council (Edinburgh UP 2015) and Curators of Cultural Enterprise (Palgrave Macmillan 2015). He is presently working on cultural expertise in the digital age.
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 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.
Dr Zahera Harb is senior lecturer in Journalism at City, University of London Journalism Department. She has published extensively on journalism, media and politics in the Arab world. She has conducted research, published and made academic contributions on representation of ethnic minorities in British media.
Before beginning her career as an academic, Zahera worked as a journalist in local and international media organisations in Lebanon for 11 years. During this time, she held roles as a producer, television news anchor and news editor, after starting as a news reporter.
The academic was named a Stanford Humanities Centre International Fellow for 2014, and in the same year was commended in the City, University of London Vice Chancellor's Awards in recognition of excellence in international engagement. She is board member of Ethical Journalism Network.
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 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 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 was appointed to the Ofcom Board with effect from 2 October 2017. He is also a member of the Content Board, Chairman of the Nations Committee, 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 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 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.
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)
Minutes of the 141st Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 7 March 2017 (PDF, 254.0 KB)
Minutes of the 140th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 24 January 2017 (PDF, 320.3 KB)
Minutes of the 139th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 6 December 2016 (PDF, 248.8 KB)
Minutes of the 138th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 25 October 2016 (PDF, 229.9 KB)
Minutes of the 137th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 13 September 2016 (PDF, 226.9 KB)
Minutes of the 136th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 28 June 2016 (PDF, 236.9 KB)
Minutes of the 135th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 17 May 2016 (PDF, 438.9 KB)
Minutes of the 134th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 5 April 2016 (PDF, 149.9 KB)
Minutes of the 133rd Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 23 February 2016 (PDF, 145.8 KB)
Minutes of the 132nd Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 3 November 2015 (PDF, 153.1 KB)
Minutes of the 131st Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 22 September 2015 (PDF, 196.3 KB)
Minutes of the 130th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 2 June 2015 (PDF, 146.3 KB)
Minutes of the 129th Meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, London, 14 April 2015 (PDF, 188.2 KB)
PDF File, 235.0 KB
PDF File, 42.2 KB
16 Mar 2017
19 April 2018
The Ofcom Wales team represents Ofcom in Wales and Wales within Ofcom – managing relationships and communications with the general public and a wide range of industry stakeholders, including politicians, industry and the media.
Information specific to those working in radio broadcasting and radio communications.
We regulate the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.
16 June 2017
The Ofcom team in Belfast represents Ofcom in Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland in Ofcom. We ensure that we keep in touch with the views and opinions of citizens and consumers, the regulated industries and stakeholders more generally in Northern Ireland and factor these into our policy and decision making.
