What they do What they don't do The actions they take Case Study - Russell Brand

1. OFCOM
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2. OFCOM
• OFCOM, it stands for the Office of Communication and was established
in 2003.
• It monitors all communication services such as, TV, radio and mobiles
etc.
• It is their duty to meet peoples interests on what they have to say about
the communications, if there has been anything inappropriate said or
done that they need to take action on etc.

3. What they do?
• They work with the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) to regulate
advertising.
• They regularly check all communication devices that everything is run
out smoothly.
• They check up on TV channels to make sure nothing inappropriate has
been said or done upsetting viewers.
• They’re aim is to protect us viewers from being treated unfairly by
TV/Radio and make sure that we are all entitled to our privacy.

4. What they don’t do
However they are not in charge of
• The BBC TV Licence fee
• Post Office, Magazine/newspapers
• Premium rates services
• Content shown on the TV or the radio

5. Action they take
OFCOM with the help of the ASA see if anything inappropriate has been
done on the TV/Radio etc. and they take immediate action against the
show which includes
• A fee.
• Firing the presenters if they see they’ve said something crude on
TV/Radio (Russell Brand).

6. Case study – Russell Brand
• During a broadcast of ‘The Russell Brand Show’ airing on the BBC Radio
2, with Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross and on they air left crude and
vulgar messages on a famous actors (Andrew Sach) granddaughter -
Georgina Baillie.
• There was 1700 complaints after this happened and immediate action
was took.
• OFCOM then fined the BBC by £150,000, Russell Brand had to resign
and Jonathon Ross was suspended without a pay for 12 weeks.