British TV station apologizes for offending viewers with Supernatural trailer

[fangirl_says]

Ofcom Rules That ITV Breached Broadcast Code
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LONDON - Ofcom has found ITV's Montel Williams Show and trailers for Supernatural to be in breach of its broadcasting code.

The regulator ruled that an episode of The Montel Williams Show on ITV2 on 11 February breached rules on offensive material and potentially harming viewers by suggesting psychics could give life-changing advice.

In this episode of the chat show, which was originally broadcast in the US in 2003, the presenter interviewed the parents of Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing for weeks. In the programme, the psychic Sylvia Browne told them he was dead, a claim which later proved to be incorrect.

ITV2 apologised for offending viewers and said it had aired the programme without amendment five years after the missing person case. But ITV2 said the programme's treatment of the subject matter was suitable for broadcast "in principle", with no "demonstration" of the paranormal.

Ofcom said the "demonstrations of psychic practice as in this programme could harm vulnerable viewers by suggesting that psychics could or should provide susceptible individuals (like the Hornbeck parents in this case) with life-changing advice".

ITV2 was also criticised for airing a ghostly trailer for its Supernatural series this year, with Ofcom claiming it was unsuitable for children before the 9pm watershed.

ITV2 said there was an "isolated failure" in the compliance process and the trailer was shown by mistake. However, Ofcom said the trailer was not scheduled appropriately and it had received similar complaints in 2007 about a previous trailer for Supernatural.

Emphasis mine. Interesting, because I understood British broadcasting standards to be less-stringent than US ones. Is that not the case?

Comments

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

Interesting, because I understood British broadcasting standards to be less-stringent than US ones.

That's what I thought, too, so I'm a bit surprised to read this.

[mrstinkles.livejournal.com]

Huh. Sounds like they're less stringent in some things (language, nudity), but more stringent in other things (psychics and ghosts???).

[almond-tiger.livejournal.com]

Well, the rules are basically: after 9pm, anything goes. Pretty much ANYTHING. The issue with the Supernatural trailer seems to be that they played it before 9pm. After 9, no one would have batted an eye.

As for the Montel Williams show, that's just weird. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that it's both before 9pm AND presented as a self help type situation when it's really just BS.

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

In England it's all about the 'watershed' of 9pm. After 9, pretty much anything goes (like the rimming scene in Queer as Folk) and before that, things are pretty strict. Though they are much less concerned about sexual subjects than here. That whole thing with 'nipple-gate' and the superbowl COMPLETELY mystified everyone I knew in England, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had to be called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, because Ninjas are inappropriate for children because they are violent. Also, all scenes with nunchuks were cut from the show. So my guess is the SPN trailers had something to do with the sort of ideas that led to Hero Turtles.

[credulesque.livejournal.com]

Gawd I dunno I LIVE in England and really don't know anything about the broadcasting standards. I think what other people are saying *points at above comments* sounds about right, about the watershed.
*shrugs*
♥

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Pretty much what other people have said here - 9pm is the point at which parents are expected to share responsibility with the broadcasters for what children view so the rules change. That having been said, the BBFC tend to be stricter on violence and imitable behaviour (Giles hot-wiring a car in Buffy was cut before 9pm) than sex and nudity and everything must be judged on its context as well as its explicitness.

[the0neru.livejournal.com]

i'm STILL getting used to what they can actually show on tv here... but as everyone else has pointed out, it seems to be more an issue of timing than of content.

[aeb.livejournal.com]

I think the folks who've already answered know more about British TV than I do. We get relatively little British and European stuff out here in Hawai'i.

However, we get distinctly more Oriental TV, especially Japanese, Korean, and Filipino. {pause} Our standards are notably different. It's easy to talk about how lax their standards are. You immediately notice when when an "older" theme is part of a "younger" show. Everyone notices when two guys are awfully close in a Japanese show, especially one for kids.

It's harder to notice that something is missing. If the gals aren't as close in that same Japanese show with the very close guys, so what? That's unremarkable... until someone who knows both cultures points out that the Japanese are more comfortable with guys being close, while Americans are more comfortable with gals being close. {smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin