A complaint against Kerrang! has been resolved after the station took disciplinary action against a presenter.
One person complained to Ofcom because a "hot or not" feature during In Demand with Luke Wilkins was cancelled after votes were invited via premium text messages.
The complainant was concerned that, during the feature, the presenter had disqualified one of the songs and cancelled the vote, allegedly because he suspected the band in question was using the vote for publicity purposes. The complainant considered the presenter's actions were unfair given that some listeners had already paid to cast their vote.
Ofcom therefore sought comments from Bauer Media, the owner of Kerrang! Radio, under Rule 2.14 of the Code which states that 'Broadcasters must ensure that…listeners are not materially misled about…voting.'
Bauer said that the presenter had no authorisation to cancel the vote and when questioned, could offer no justification for doing so. It accepted that this raised compliance issues with regard to Rule 2.14 of the Code.
The broadcaster subsequently took disciplinary action against the presenter and began contacting the 32 listeners who had voted by text message, to arrange a refund and invite them to a future live event by way of apology.
In order to avoid a recurrence, Bauer said that Kerrang! Radio had 'since reminded all presenters of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and their responsibilities and has reiterated the processes to be followed by all presenters on air.'
As a result, Ofcom accepted that this incident occurred due to the presenter's actions rather than a decision to cancel the vote by the broadcaster's management, and as such, it had not been the broadcaster‟s intention to deliberately mislead its audience.
Ofcom therefore considers the matter resolved.
Kerrang tell us that Luke has since left the Kerrang.