1. Regulations and Constraints in the Creative Media Industries
Unit 7:2 & 7:3

2. The BBC is regulated by two governing bodies, the BBC Trust and Ofcom.
The BBC Trust is one of the governing bodies of the BBC. The organisation is independent of the BBC’s management or any external bodies.
Goals of BBC Trust
The goals of the trust include:
To ensure the BBC remains independent, resisting pressure and influence from external sources.
To ensure the BBC's management delivers public value by providing distinctive services of the highest quality to all the people and all the communities across the United Kingdom.

3. Ofcom
Ofcom (Office of Communications) is a government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Unlike the BBC Trust, Ofcom has the ability to regulate all UK Television and radio channels like Channel 4, ITV, etc.
Ofcom has the power to regulate the BBC's television and radio services aimed at audiences in the UK, but not the World Service which is grant-in-aid funded. Ofcom's Broadcasting Code applies in the following areas:
Protection of under 18s
Harm and Offence
Avoidance of inciting crime or disorder
Responsible approach to religious content
Prohibition of use of images of very brief duration
Fairness
Privacy

4. Criticisms and Controversies

5. History of Controversies
Throughout the BBC’s long history there have been MANY controversies, these have ranged from political to cultural.
Here are some of the most notable incidents:
Top gear
The popular motoring-themed show, Top Gear has become somewhat infamous for igniting controversy, one of the most notable being:
Mexican Mockery
During the second episode of series sixteen, the presenters mocked the Mexican sports car on justification of it being designed in Mexico, during this the presenters made several jokes about Mexican stereotypes, Clarkson ended the conversation by saying that the Mexican ambassador to Britain would be too lazy to make any kind of complaint, this prompted the Mexican ambassador, Eduardo Medina Mora, to write to the BBC.
News Report on the controversy:

6. Blue Peter
The CBBC children's television show, Blue Peter, has had quite a few controversies in its recent history.
Here are a few:
Richard Bacon Fired
In October 1998, Richard Bacon had his contract terminated mid-run, after he admitted to taking cocaine, Lorraine Heggessey, the Head of BBC Children's programmes at the time, apologised on air for the incident.
Fake Phone Competition Winner
It was revealed by the BBC that a phone-in competition supporting the UNICEF "Shoe Biz Appeal", held on 27 November 2006, was rigged. The competition was rigged due to a technical error with receiving the calls. A child visiting the studio pretended to be the winning caller who had won the phone-in. She also went on to say that the programme would not feature premium rate telephone competitions in the future. This resulted in Blue Peter being fined £50,000 by Ofcom.
“Socksgate”
Blue Peter hit the headlines again in September 2007 when an online vote on Blue Peter website took place to choose the name of the new Blue Peter kitten in January but due to problems with the voting system the staff overruled the decision to call the cat “Cookie”, the name chosen by the voters, and the kitten was instead “Socks”. As a result of the negative media coverage the original cat, Socks, was joined by another kitten named Cookie.

7. “Sachsgate”
On 18 October 2008, BBC Radio 2 broadcasted a pre-recorded episode of The Russell Brand Show which featured the host Russell Brand and his guest Jonathan Ross leaving several messages on Andrew Sachs’ answering machine, including explicit comments about Brand's relationship with Sachs's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.
After the show aired, the BBC received over a 1,000 complaints over the offensive material and the fact that it was allowed to be broadcasted, by October 30th the number of complaints had reached 30,000.
Aftermath
The BBC apologised to license fee payers specifically to Sachs and Baillie.
Jonathan Ross was suspended without pay for 12 weeks on 30th October and Russell Brand and Lesley Douglas, Controller of Radio 2, resigned from the BBC.
Ofcom fined the BBC £150,000 of breaking the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
Ofcom’s Full Adjudication