Radio Caroline has been found to have breached Ofcom regulations after it mistakenly broadcast that the King had died. The Essex-based radio station issued an apology in May following the incident on The Barry Marsh Show, during which messages were aired stating "we have suspended our normal programmes until further notice as a mark of respect following the passing of His Majesty King Charles III".
Incident Details
The announcements were accompanied by the national anthem and approximately 16 minutes of silence before the presenter acknowledged the mistake. He said: "I've just been informed that we've played in error some information a little earlier. I didn't hear this myself, but it is incorrect, it's a technical issue, and of course we apologise."
An Ofcom ruling has since revealed that a member of staff conducting maintenance on the studio computer accessed the pre-recorded audio files and played them out of curiosity, unaware this would result in the material being transmitted live.
Ofcom Investigation
Upon realising what had occurred, they halted the files and "panicked and left the premises". The media watchdog confirmed it had received two complaints regarding the transmission, and determined it had violated rules 5.1, which requires news to be reported with accuracy and impartiality, and 5.2, which mandates that errors in news coverage are acknowledged and corrected on air promptly.
An Ofcom statement read: "We considered this to have been a very significant inaccuracy about an issue of particular public importance. As outlined above, Radio Caroline did not broadcast an apology and clarification until approximately 30 minutes after the inaccurate announcements were first broadcast.
"We noted that the Licensee was monitoring the output around the time of the incident and that an engineer was already aware of the issue, but that it took some time to understand what had occurred and reinstate the scheduled programme, with that being exacerbated by the circumstances of the presenter streaming the programme remotely."
Station Response
The station revealed that the files containing the messages had been accompanied by "a set of strict instructions to presenters and managers" prior to broadcast, yet a member of staff had aired them out of sheer curiosity.
Radio Caroline insisted they "took the matter very seriously" and had acted "as soon as possible" upon becoming aware of the situation. The station confirmed that the staff member responsible for playing the files had been "reprimanded" and had "apologised". To ensure such an incident could not be repeated, Radio Caroline removed the offending files from the desktop of the studio computer.
The broadcaster also confirmed that its presenters and support staff had been reminded of the relevant procedures.
