Ofcom fines talkSPORT over presenter's 'vote Boris' plea

Regulator Ofcom found that an episode of phone-in programme The James Whale Show breached rules on impartiality in the coverage of elections and referendums. The radio station sacked the presenter over the incident in May.

"During the edition of 20 March 2008, James Whale took two calls from listeners and along with his producer discussed the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and his backing of Ken Livingstone’s Labour candidacy for the 2008 London mayoral elections," said the Ofcom report.

"James Whale criticised Ken Livingstone by saying that he 'has been nothing but a complete and utter tragedy for the capital city'. He also directly encouraged listeners in London to vote for Boris Johnson (the Conservative candidate) in the 2008 London mayoral elections," it said.

"He said that people would have a better quality of life under Boris Johnson’s leadership and that they would not be 'ripped off nearly as much, if at all'. He also said that if people did not vote for Boris Johnson then they had only themselves to blame if 'Livingstone gets in for another term,'" said the report.

According to a transcript of the show, Whale's producer warns him, on air, that he is not allowed to champion one candidate over another. "I don’t give a stuff, I couldn’t care less," replied Whale.

“'Boris Johnson for mayor of London' that has to be the mantra," said Whale. His producer repeated, "You’re not allowed to say that." Whale retorted: "I couldn’t give a stuff."

Ofcom received three complaints about the episode which was broadcast six weeks before polling day.

"James Whale made a number of comments directly criticising Ken Livingstone and explicitly encouraging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson," said Ofcom. "Alternative views about the London mayoral candidacy and Ken Livingstone’s record as London mayor were not represented in the programme so as even to attempt to achieve due impartiality."

"In any event, it is not appropriate for presenters to use their position to urge voters to support political parties or candidates. The presenter’s comments were not simply a 'vote for…' comment, but amounted to a direct political message to his listeners," it said.

"This effectively resulted in the programme becoming a platform in support of Boris Johnson and critical of Ken Livingstone," said Ofcom.

Rule 6.1 of Ofcom's broadcasting code provides that broadcasters must show due impartiality in their coverage of elections and referendums. Its aim is to ensure that elections are conducted fairly, and that no unfair advantage is given to candidates through promotion in the broadcast media, irrespective of whether the candidate can be shown to have actually benefited in practice. 

TalkSPORT Ltd argued that the breach was “a one-off rant” by an experienced presenter in the face of clear instructions from TalkSPORT production staff and management regarding the Code.

The broadcaster told Ofcom that "no radio station can legislate against the wilful actions of a 'rogue' presenter," according to the ruling. TalkSPORT said that it had provided compliance training and sent a written reminder to all staff about impartiality. There was a seven-second profanity delay mechanism at the station which allowed producers to stop the broadcast of brief examples of offensive language, but talkSPORT said that it could not have prevented the breach in this case.

Ofcom rejected that defence.

"TalkSPORT – like any other licensee, whose services are broadcast live – must maintain proper editorial control at all times. It is the Licensee’s duty to ensure compliance with the Code: control should never rest with a presenter, however experienced," said Ofcom.

TalkSPORT has been fined the sum of £20,000 and ordered to broadcast a statement of Ofcom’s findings.