DAR AL HARB - U.K.: ISLAM CHANNEL IS FINED - - - WHO KNEW THEY HAD AN ISLAM CHANNEL?!?

Ofcom fines Islam Channel £30k
by Robin Parker

Ofcom has fined specialist religious station The Islam Channel £30,000 for a series of code breaches linked to programmes fronted by political candidates during local elections.

The channel breached guidelines in 24 programmes aired during the 2006 local elections in current affairs strands The Agenda and Politics and the Media.

The regulator said the incidents were "inexcusable" because it had conducted a special compliance workshop at the channel's offices after a previous investigation into the programme Saturday Night.

The ruling centres on editions of The Agenda fronted by Yvonne Ridley, a candidate for the Respect party, while fellow Respect candidate Abdurahman Akhtar Jafar presented Politics and the Media.

Rule 6.6 of Ofcom's guidelines states: "Candidates in UK elections, and representatives of permitted participants in UK referendums, must not act as news presenters, interviewers or presenters of any type of programme during the election period."

The programmes were also upheld for failing to treat political issues with due impartiality, a breach of rules 5.5, 5.12, 6.8 and 6.9.

The channel further breached its licence by failing to provide a copy of an edition of The Agenda containing a crawler text, which was the subject of a complaint to Ofcom.

Islam Channel's management claimed not to have been aware of Jafar's mayoral candidacy before they were contacted by Ofcom on 21 April 2006, even though Ridley had referred to it on air.

Ofcom said this was "clear evidence that Islam Channel Ltd could not have been properly monitoring its own output."

In its defence, the channel said it had since taken "radical steps" towards improving compliance and that as an Islamic channel with limited resources, it faced particular compliance pressures. It also argued that the broadcasts gave Respect no electoral gain.

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