BNP Banned By 4 Shown By 4

A party political broadcast by the British National Party was broadcast on Friday night by BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 5. Prior to the broadcast, there were large public protests outside the TV channels involved.

Channel 4 banned the broadcast on behalf of the far right group. 4 said that the broadcast did not comply with the ITC code because it showed identifiable black people who had not given permission for their images to be used. The BNP refused to submit a revised version of the tape.

The ITC say that it is up to the individual broadcasters to interpret the codes; Channel 4 simply interpreted the codes differently from the other broadcasters. The ITC only has the power to intervene once the broadcast has gone ahead. The Commission told Newsline that it has already received a number of complaints and would be dealing with these in the normal way.

If the five main channels cannot reach a decision on whether a broadcast is racist, there may now be calls for a stronger regulator, who could adjudicate on these matters, on behalf of all those involved, prior to the broadcast.