Ofcom fines talkSPORT £20,000

Ofcom today imposed a £20,000 fine on talkSPORT radio after its presenter James Whale “seriously breached” broadcasting rules by encouraging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral elections.

Whale made the comments during a live phone-in show on March 20 and was subsequently fired by the UTV-owned station in May following an internal investigation.

Ofcom said today that the broadcaster has “seriously breached the due impartiality rules at the time of an election”.

talkSPORT has been fined £20,000 for a breach of the broadcasting code and has to broadcast a statement of Ofcom’s findings.

The regulator said: “The presenter directly encouraged listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the upcoming London mayoral elections and criticised Ken Livingstone.

“Breaches of this nature have the potential to cause considerable harm to the democratic process by conferring an unfair electoral advantage on a particular candidate,” Ofcom added.

Ofcom has already warned talkSPORT radio after former presenter George Galloway breached impartiality rules last year – the regulator said the station has failed to take sufficient action following its previous warning.

In October, the Belfast-based media group UTV announced plans to sell its Edinburgh station talk107 in order to focus on talkSPORT (see UTV Set To Sell Talk107 Radio Station).

In the latest RAJAR release, the commercial chat and sport station talkSPORT remained static year on year, with an average of 2.3 million listeners per week (see Year on Year Rise In Reach For Radio 2).

talkSPORT: 020 7959 7800 www.talksport.co.uk