Monarchy – The ITC Decided

The ITC’s February Programme Complaints and Interventions Report was published today.

The ITV programme Monarchy – The National Decides has been the subject of a number of complaints to the ITC. The current affairs programme that considered the future of the Monarchy received 85 complaints from viewers. The majority of these criticisms concerned the style of the programme. It was generally felt that the audience was out of control, that there were too many panelists, that arguments were not considered in any depth and that the topic was inappropriate for TV. A further 32 complaints were received from viewers who had been unable to register their votes in the phone-poll.

The ITC decided that it was not wrong to debate this issue on television, infact it felt that ITV had developed an innovative current affairs programme. The ITC did, however, rule that the audience had at times seemed out of control and that arguments were not given enough time to develop. The ITC found no problem with the telephone-poll service.

The complaints were partially upheld.

There was one other interesting case mentioned in the February report. An edition of Wish You Were Here….? featuring Julian Clary received 8 complaints from viewers. They objected to Julian Clary’s camp style and gay innuendo in a programme shown in family viewing time. The ITC agreed that there was a degree of innuendo, but no more than would be encountered in a Carry On film. The complaints were not upheld.

ITC: 0171 306 7743