Channel-4 complied with broadcasting code, UK regulator rules

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 03:28 GMT]
The independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, the OfCom (Office of Communications) ruled that the Channel-4 video, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," that the documentary did not breach any broadcasting code, The Guardian said. As part of the campaign orchestrated by Colombo to discredit the documentary, OfCom received 118 complaints about issues including impartiality, offensiveness and the broadcast of misleading material, but concluded it had not breached the broadcasting code on any of these counts.

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, which focused on a UN investigation into alleged war crimes during the final weeks of the country's civil war, included a number of images of murdered and tortured bodies, and also of partially clothed women who, it was suggested in the documentary, had been sexually abused prior to their death.

The regulator said: "Channel 4 has a unique public service remit to provide programming that is challenging, diverse and likely to provoke debate. Consequently, the broadcaster has a history of broadcasting very challenging material from war zones (including graphic footage) and seeking out the voices and views of those who may not be represented.

"The images included in this programme, whilst brutal and shocking, would not have exceeded the expectations of the audience for this Channel 4 documentary scheduled well after the watershed with very clear warnings about the nature of the content."

Human Rights watchdogs, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and International Crisis Group (ICG) sponsored screening of the Sri Lanka's Killing Fields in several Western political capitals to decision makers. Colombo, stung by the international outcry produced its own version of the events in a rebuttal video.

External Links:

Guardian:

Channel 4's Sri Lanka documentary cleared by Ofcom