Satire row gets political

Channel 4 claims Brass Eye highlights media hysteria

By BBC parliamentary correspondent Sean Curran

This is hardly the first time since Channel 4 was launched in 1982 that ministers have raged against a television programme they have not seen.

But, for most of the past 18 years it has been Conservative politicians who have done most of the complaining.

With its remit to produce alternative programmes, Channel 4 was almost designed to upset traditional-minded Tories

Indeed, with its remit to produce alternative programmes, the station was almost designed to upset traditional-minded Tories.

Within months of the launch, a Tory MP had called on the home secretary to close Channel 4 after it announced it would be showing a gay programme on New Year's Eve.

Dereliction of duty

And the decision to repeat the spoof documentary on paedophilia has angered at least one Conservative MP.

Gerald Howarth who was duped into appearing on the programme - but didn't actually watch it - told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the show was sick and accused Channel 4 of "dereliction of duty".

But most of the complaints this time round have come from Labour MPs and ministers who are doing the complaining.

in the recent past ministers said they were in favour of lighter regulation

The Child Protection Minister, Beverley Hughes, told the Today programme, she had not seen the whole show but described it as "unspeakably sick".

The new Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, has said the barriers of decency are in danger of being torn down.

Ms Jowell, who has seen the programme, now intends to contact the Independent Television Commission and appears to be ready to give the regulator extra powers to fast-track complaints and ban programmes.

But in the recent past ministers said they were in favour of lighter regulation.

And they seemed to accept that the growth in the number of television channels made that inevitable.

Leave my zapper

Just the sort of the reaction we might have expected from senior Conservatives. But the Shadow Culture Secretary, Peter Ainsworth, complains that Ministers have gone over the top.

He actually saw the offending programme which he thinks was in bad taste.

But he doesn't want "ministers sitting on my zapper" and worries that the Government is in danger of changing the whole regulatory system because of one programme.

Citing the old legal maxim that hard cases make bad law, Peter Ainsworth says if ministers want to change the remit of the ITC, they should give their arguments for doing it and not just base the changes on one show.

Defending his station at the weekend, the outgoing head of Channel 4, Michael Jackson, said there had been a sea change in social attitudes over the past 18 years.

The contrast between the attitudes of the two main parties towards Brass Eye would appear to prove his point.