[cma-l] comty radio and campaigning

[Two Lochs Radio]

I think there's a legal line to be trodden there Jaqui, and it needs to be 
born in mind. There is a fine difference between honestly reporting the 
actions and opinions of campaigners cand their targets, and actually 
expressing an opinion as a station in a campaign.

As well as the legal requirement not to give undue prominence to the views 
of any particular person or organization, it is also completely illegal for 
a radio station to broadcast its own opinions on matters of political or 
industrial controversy; and matters relating to current public policy. It is 
also forbidden to carry 'political' advertising that seeks to influence the 
decisions of a statutorily appointed body carrying out its statutory 
functions, or to carry advertising that seeks the same.

The only exception to these prohibitions is where the matters it is seeking 
to influence have a direct bearing on the proper operations of the station. 
In other words you can campaign for example on a change in CR requlations, 
but a radio station can't advertise a campaign for a council to change 
library opening hours.

NB This is not Ofcom regulation or licence conditions, it is the law, as 
spelt out in the Communications Act.

There are seven identified areas covered by this prohibition, and I'm sure 
we all know the first one, which is seekign to influence the outcome of 
elections. But the other that is most likely to be tripped across is the 
fourth: "influencing the policies or decisions of persons on whom public 
functions are conferred by or under the law of the United Kingdom or of a 
country or territory outside the United Kingdom;"

And the range of "public functions" and definition of "political" are far 
wider than you may think. We were once asked to carry an advert by a local 
very moderate group seeking to change a decision by the National Trust for 
Scotland at a local NTS property, but after seeking advice were told that it 
would most definitely be illegal for us to carry the advert, which sought to 
do nothing more than publicize a meeting by the campaigners.

This is of course all in stark contrast to the position with newspapers, 
where the field is wide open for this sort of thing, and indeed it forms the 
staple of many publications. A great historic anomoly in our legislation if 
you ask me.

I'm not sure what the legal position would be for a station campaigning on, 
say, its own website, rather than on the air. It would be useful to the 
community broadcasters if CMA could get legal guidance on that.

Alex

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jaqui devereux" <jaqui.devereux at commedia.org.uk>
To: "Julian Mellor" <julian at 10radio.org>
Cc: "CMA-L" <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 3:04 PM
Subject: Re: [cma-l] comty radio and campaigning


Hi Julian

One of the things surely in the remit of com radio is to hold the
executive to account, locally regionally and nationally.  So in our
opinion so long as you do a "we asked the Council for comment and the
chance to put their point of view" bit then you should be OK.  Many CR
stations have campaigned on local issues successfully without any
comeback under the impartiality rules.  Maybe as well use the "big
society" thing and ask the Council to help local people to take over
the libraries!

Best wishes

Jaqui

-- 
Jaqui Devereux
Director, Community Media Association