British media regulator Ofcom has revealed that during 2023, audience complaints about standards on TV continued to make the headlines with news coverage of the Israel Gaza conflict, the Coronation of King Charles and celebrity on-screen spats featuring in its Top 10 complaints.

For Ofcom, complaints are a vital barometer for how audiences think and feel.

“Over the course of the last year, we received 69,236 complaints about 9,638 cases. That’s nearly twice as many complaints as we dealt with in 2022 — although the two most complained about programmes of the year make up nearly a quarter of the total complaints,” the British regulator said in its annual wrap-up news digest.

Importantly, this number doesn’t include complaints about programmes on the BBC. Under the BBC Charter, these must be handled by the BBC in the first instance.

Almost one in ten complaints to Ofcom this year were about coverage of the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza which began in October. The regulator said it plays a crucial role in preserving the integrity of broadcast news and current affairs programming, by upholding standards of due impartiality and due accuracy. And so, complaints about this content – on a range of channels – are being prioritised by the regulatory team.

Protecting Audiences from Harm: Every other Monday sees the publication of Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin – the go-to source for details of new investigations, decisions and listings of complaints about programmes that don’t raise issues under the rules.

In 2023, Ofcom said it published 23 Broadcast and On-Demand Bulletins, which announced 57 new broadcast standards investigations, as well as the outcome of 46 investigations.

“We found a total of 35 programmes in breach of our broadcasting rules and are working to conclude the others as quickly as possible. We also published 15 adjudications on complaints from individuals and organisations that complained to us that they had been treated unfairly and/or had their privacy unwarrantedly infringed in TV and radio programmes.

We imposed sanctions on four broadcasters   for content breaches, including a 40,000 pound fine on the Islam channel and 10,000  pound on Ahlebait TV, both for broadcasting antisemitic content.”

Ofcom also also found GB News in breach of its rules on five occasions after investigations found it broke rules that protect audiences from harm twice and the regulator’s due impartiality rules three times.

Shining Light on Standards: Throughout the year, Ofcom said, it has also published content to better explain more about its role and how they work – including around the rules relating to politicians presenting programmes and how people, taking part in reality shows, are protected.

It also clarified the importance of due impartiality in news and current affairs programming and explained how these rules are sometimes misunderstood. A common misconception is that due impartiality means “neutrality”. Or, that it’s a mathematical construct whereby equal airtime must be given to all sides of a debate. It’s not so, the regulator emphasised.

In February, ofcom Director of Standards and Audience Protection Adam Baxter recorded a podcast with journalist and broadcaster Pandora Sykes and TV critic, and broadcaster Scott Bryan. The wide-ranging conversation covered reality TV, freedom of expression, full-frontal nudity and everything in-between.

Also this year, ofcom published research to better understand what audiences expect from different content on TV, and on-demand, and explored audience attitudes towards sex and violence on television.

Ofcom in its statement said that in 2024, it’ll publish the results of research into what audiences think about programmes which feature politicians as presenters.

“We’re looking forward to another year of protecting audiences from harm and upholding the right to freedom of expression on your screens and airwaves. And with a General Election looming, ensuring that due impartiality is preserved and news is reported with due accuracy will be high on our priority list,” Ofcom said in its concluding remarks.