Tuesday 15 September 2009

Genesis-Revelation TV in Serious Breach

I am grateful to a comment from Gordon (not Gordon Pettie!) which, if left as a comment in its place, will be buried in an entry here made in summer. It is about Genesis-Revelation TV in serious breach of the OFCOM Code. It says, via the email:

Gordon has left a new comment on your post "Liberal Catholicism and Christian Zionism?":

They [Genesis - Revelation TV] have been in trouble with OFCOM again. This time for airing a programme called "The Land Cries Out for the Blood that Was Shed" which showed images of dismembered late aborted foetuses at 3:30pm, just prior to their afternoon children's programme. The full judgement can be found here in the OFCOM broadcast bulletin of 14th September 2009.

Interestingly their defence was:

1. It was shown in error (put apparently not stopped by anyone once it had started playing).

2. Their viewers don't agree with lots of what's on other channels so why should viewers of other channels have a right to censor things they disapprove of.

In other words they feel they are being persecuted - and that makes them even more vociferous.

It explains why last night one of them said "the Devil" was out to get them. I made a complaint just the once a while back after a telephone contributor attacked gays, Muslims and Roman Catholicism all in one go, and the presenter showed his enthusiasm for the comments, but a forensic look at his words by OFCOM just about allowed for other opinion to be expressed if it ever was going to be expressed, despite the likely offence felt originally, and it was in keeping with the expectation of that specialist channel at that time with a right to broadcast its stance. I thought it was supposed to be a pastoral programme (a late one) and indeed I've noticed since a stress made by presenters in that programme that it is for people of such Christian beliefs ringing with their difficulties in life. And there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Presumably now that there has been this serious breach, Genesis-Revelation TV is in for a rocket, particularly as a previous breach of the Code involved such a warning, so they will have to do some money raising.

But I'll give them this. For all their far out beliefs Genesis-Revelation TV do not go in for prosperity Christianity that you can hear on other channels, particularly preached at the KICC one, which is at fundraising and more to ask the gullible to send in their money so that they might receive lots more money by other ways if only their faith is strong enough. As I understand it, only United Christian Broadcasters and Genesis-Revelation TV are within OFCOM's regulatory procedures, but really OFCOM ought to find a way to deal with GOD TV and what it does. It has long and extraordinary days of fundraising bringing in all these characters, many of the prosperity gospel type, with a heavy sell for money. Somebody might correct me here but it seems bizarre that they can operate out of Sunderland and yet be outside regulatory control.

2 comments:

Gordon said...

Revelation TV are now moving their broadcasting offshore so they do not have to comply with the OFCOM broadcast code. See this article for more detail:

http://www.ecalpemos.org/2010/03/revelation-tv-moving-to-spain-via.html

Gordon said...

Another one for you:

On 26th April 2010 Genesis TV was found to be in breach of rule 2.1 of the broadcasting code for screening a programme called "Bible Medicine" (4th January 2010) which promoted an alleged cure for cancer called GC100.

In their ruling Ofcom said:

"We considered that the advocacy of GC100 as an anti-carcinogenic strategy had a clear potential to cause some members of the audience – especially vulnerable ones – very serious (and possibly life-threatening) harm."

The full Ofcom ruling can be found here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/prog_cb/obb156/Issue156.pdf