U2 singer in trouble over outburst

Bono: Straight-talking on the plight of the world

A broadcasting watchdog has censured BBC Radio 1 after U2 singer Bono swore during Simon Mayo's morning show.

The U2 singer used the f-word during a phone conversation with the broadcaster as he spoke of his concerns about the state of the world.

A complaint from a listener was upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Commission after the show, which was broadcast in September.

The BBC said the audience was more likely to take Bono's language as evidence of his deeply-felt commitment to his cause than a casual attitude towards his language.

'Joke' criticised

But a standards panel of the BSC decided "the use of the word had exceeded acceptable boundaries for the time of broadcast".

Complaints were also upheld against a September edition of ITV's The Bill over bad language which the BSC thought was unsuitable for a family audience.

An edition of Soccer Extra on the Sky Sports 2 channel upset a viewer when analyst Rodney Marsh cracked a joke about Stan Collymore and Ulrika Jonsson.

Soccer star Collymore attacked his then girlfriend Jonsson in a bar in Paris last year.

The BSC, which adjudicates on upheld the complaint because Marsh's comment seemed to endorse violence against women.

The Broadcasting Standards Commission adjudicates on taste, decency and fairness matters across all of the UK's radio and TV stations.

While it can rebuke broadcasters for lapses of its code, it has no power to fine stations or remove their licences.