Scrap BBC charter and keep Channel 4 public, say Tory peers

Two Conservative grandees have told the government to change course on its two most high-profile media polices, saying ministers should scrap the BBC’s royal charter and rule out any privatisation of Channel 4. In an open letter to culture secretary John Whittingdale published on Wednesday, Lords Fowler and Inglewood – both former chairmen of the House of Lords select committee on communications – said the royal charter, which must be renewed after a set period, made the BBC too reliant on government. They said that major decisions on the BBC’s future should have to be approved by both houses of parliament, rather than being taken during charter renewal negotiations between ministers and the broadcaster. The royal charter system, they said, allows the government to “do very much what it likes”.
The Guardian 17/2/2016
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BBC to air graphic sex scenes and four-letter words in mid-morning Radio 4 slot

Radio 4 is to broadcast a mid-morning adaptation of a seminal feminist novel that is filled with four-letter words and graphic sex scenes, on a day when many children are expected to be at home. The BBC station will air a five-part adaptation of Fear of Flying, the 1973 novel by the feminist writer Erica Jong, next week. The book is renowned for its sexual content, and spawned the term “zipless f—“, which Jong used to describe a casual sexual encounter in which neither party is taking advantage of the other. The corporation has taken the controversial decision to air the five-part drama series, part of a Woman’s Hour season on feminist literature, at 10.45am, and will not censor the swearwords or sexual content.
The Telegraph 16/2/2016
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Children in England near bottom in international happiness table

ight-year-olds in England are less happy than those in Estonia, Poland and Turkey, a survey suggests, with body image and school identified as areas they are particularly troubled by. England ranked 13th out of 16 countries when it came to children’s life satisfaction, according to the international survey. Only South Korea, Nepal and Ethiopia fared worse overall. Romania, notorious for the terrible state of its orphanages 25 years ago, now ranks top of the league in eight-year-olds’ self-reported life satisfaction, according to the research by Children’s Worlds. Colombia, a country riven by decades of civil war, came third, while Poland was second.
The Guardian 16/2/2016
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Government launches porn site age checks consultation

A public consultation over plans to implement age checks on pornography websites has been launched by the UK government. The proposals follow a Conservative Party manifesto commitment that “all sites containing pornographic material” must check that users are over 18. Internet providers, charities, academics and others will be asked to contribute to the consultation. A security expert said the plans would struggle to tackle porn on free sites. In the consultation document, the government proposes that the checks should apply to content that would receive - if formally classified - an 18 or R18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
BBC News Online 16/2/2016
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One in five children watching porn on internet, ministers reveal in crackdown on providers

One in five children using the Internet has viewed online pornography, government analysis has revealed as ministers pledged to stop adult sites making money unless they check the age of visitors. Some 1.4 million Britons aged under-18 visited pornography sites in a single month, figures published by the government today reveal amid fears children are developing a “warped view of sexual relationships”. Ministers have revealed plans to fine porn websites up to £250,000 if they refuse to adopt age verifying software to ensure children do not accidentally watch adult videos online.
The Telegraph 16/2/2016
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Sexting ‘is just a part of growing up’ say new guidelines as police are told to avoid ‘draconian’ prosecutions of teenagers that could harm their futures

Children who text naked photos of themselves to friends will no longer face prosecution and a possible criminal record under proposed new guidance. Currently a teenager’s name can be stored for up to 100 years on the national police database if an officer is told the child sent an explicit image. Any child aged under 18 caught ‘sexting’ can be hauled to court and placed on the sex offenders’ register. This could hamper their chances of getting a job because potential employers could learn of the incident if they conducted a criminal record check. But following concerns that the system is too draconian and risks criminalising millions of teenagers who consensually share racy photos with their partners or friends, the rules are being relaxed. Guidance to be sent to police forces within weeks will reflect the fact that the authorities could be overwhelmed investigating ‘sexting’ even though it has become a normal part of growing up. It will tell officers to take into account the ages of the children involed, whether a school pupil has been coerced into sending or receiving an image and if the pictures show full frontal nudity.
The Daily Mail 15/2/2016
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BBC considering scrapping channel-based structure in radical shakeup

The BBC is considering scrapping its decades-old channel and radio station-based structure in a radical shakeup which would see a cull of executive posts. The plans are being looked at as part of attempts to reduce management layers to help fund cuts of more than £550m a year due to decreases in licence fee income and the cost of providing free TV licenses for the over 75s. Senior executives are understood to want a “content-first approach” more similar to output from BBC children’s and sport divisions, rather than one based on how and where people watch or listen. While the BBC is dedicated to keeping its channels and stations on the air, executives believe that rapid changes in the way people consume BBC content means a new structure would be more appropriate as well as save money.
The Guardian 15/2/2016
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This painting is ‘too obscene’ for Facebook

Meet the 52-year-old who isn’t allowed on Facebook because she’s “too suggestive”. This image is of the painting Ice Cream, which was created in 1964 by one of the world’s first pop artists, Evelyne Axell. It was uploaded last week by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. However, censors removed it shortly afterwards. The museum says Facebook told them it shows “excessive amounts of skin or suggestive content”.
Newsbeat 14/2/2016
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How the dark world of pornography is damaging kids’ lives forever

WHEN eighteen-year-old Jake had his first sexual experience three years ago, he believed all the readily-available porn he watched had prepared him for the real thing. But instead of the plethora of sexual positions and experiences the teen might have imagined was awaiting, an awkward reality dawned on the adolescent. “First time I had sex, because I’d watched so much porn I though all chicks dig this, all chicks want this done to them … all chicks love it there. So I tried all of this stuff, and yeah, it turned out bad.” Jake’s story features in a documentary called Reality and Risk: Love and Sex in and Age of Pornography, directed by Australian sexuality educator Maree Crabbe and academic Dave Corlett.
News Corps Australia 13/2/2016
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MAX PEMBERTON on why his most horrifying moment as a doctor makes him uneasy about BBC suicide show

One of the worst things I have had to do in my career is explain to someone who had tried to kill himself with an overdose, but then changed his mind, that he was going to die. He sat there, in floods of tears, begging me to say there was some way to save him. Unfortunately, he had taken an overdose of paracetamol, but had not come in to A&E quickly enough. His organs had begun to fail, there was nothing we could do and he had to wait to die. As I walked away, I thought how few of us understand the reality of suicide. People mistakenly think that if you take an overdose of paracetamol, you just slip into a deep sleep and never wake up.
The Daily Mail 13/2/2016
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Paedophiles use secret Facebook groups to swap images

Paedophiles are using secret groups on Facebook to post and swap obscene images of children, the BBC has found. Settings on the social network mean the groups are invisible to most users and only members can see the content. Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said Facebook was not doing enough to police the groups and protect children. Facebook’s head of public policy told the BBC he was committed to removing “content that shouldn’t be there”. A BBC investigation found a number of secret groups, created by and run for men with a sexual interest in children, including one being administered by a convicted paedophile who was still on the sex offenders’ register.
BBC News Online 12/2/2016
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BBC makes last minute changes to assisted suicide documentary, after Samaritans complaint

Samaritans put pressure on the ​BBC to make last minute changes to documentary showing a man taking his own life. How to Die: Simon’s Choice, which aired on BBC Two last night, followed the final months of Simon Binner, a Cambridge graduate who suffered from motor neurone disease, and his eventual decision to kill himself, on October 19 last year.
The Telegraph 10/2/2016
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BBC’s director general Tony Hall ‘accountable to no-one’, say MPs

The BBC’s director general Tony Hall is “effectively accountable to no-one”, a new report by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has claimed. The report is calling for a radical overhaul of the corporation’s governance, and recommends the abolition of the BBC Trust. It said Tony Hall “operates with too high a degree of independence”. The MPs have called for the BBC Board to be reformed with the addition of an independent Chair. The BBC Trust, currently chaired by Rona Fairhead, came into effect following the 2006 Royal Charter Review, replacing the Board of Governors. It is independent of BBC management, and its stated aim is to make decisions in the best interests of licence fee payers. The Committee said the Chair of a reformed Board should be a “significant figure, ideally with acknowledged experience in managing large organisations”.
BBC News Online 11/2/2016
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Google takes wider action on ‘right to be forgotten’

Tech giant Google says it will hide content removed under the “right to be forgotten” from all versions of the search engine when viewed from countries where removal was approved. Under the “right to be forgotten” ruling, EU citizens may ask search engines to remove information about them. Now, removed results will not appear on any version of Google. EU privacy regulators previously asked the firm to do this.
BBC News Online 11/2/2016
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Google to ban Adobe Flash-based advertising

Google has announced that it will stop accepting ads made with Adobe’s much maligned Flash in June this year and ban them entirely from 2 January 2017. Both arms of Google’s advertising business, Google Display Network and DoubleClick will stop showing Flash, meaning that all ads will have to use HTML5 for animations. Google said: “To enhance the browsing experience for more people on more devices, the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Digital Marketing are now going 100% HTML5.” Video ads, however, will still be able to use Flash for the time being, but the clock appears to be ticking for those as well.
The Guardian 10/2/2016
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Parents urged to boycott VTech toys after hack

Cybersecurity experts have said parents should boycott or at least be cautious of VTech’s electronic toys because of how it has handled a hack attack. They gave the advice after it emerged that VTech’s new terms and conditions state that parents must assume responsibility for future breaches. More than 6.3 million children’s accounts were affected by last year’s breach, which gave the perpetrator access to photos and chat logs. VTech says it stands by the new terms.
BBC News Online 10/2/2016
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What are four of the top social media networks doing to protect children?

According to recent report from NSPCC, ChildLine conducted 35,000 counselling sessions for low self-esteem between April 2014 and March 2015. The report blames “a constant onslaught from cyber-bullying, social media and the desire to copy celebrities,” as key reasons. Julia Fossi, senior analyst for online safety at NSPCC says that while most platforms are taking steps to improve safety, social networks must be held more accountable for the content they host. She says that social sites, which often use tracking technology for adverts and marketing could use a similar technology “to identify potential bullying issues and help determine what an effective intervention would look like.”
The Guardian 9/2/2016
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Children ignore age limits by opening social media accounts

A majority of 10 to 12-year-olds use social media despite being below the age limit to have an account, a survey has revealed. Social media services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat require account holders to be at least 13 years-old. But a survey by the BBC’s news programme for children, Newsround, found that more than three-quarters of younger children at primary-leaving age were using at least one social media network. For 13 to 18-year-olds, 96 percent used social media networks.
The Telegraph 9/2/2016
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Woman reveals how porn destroyed her life after first seeing it at the age of SIX

A mother-of-three has revealed how she was ‘traumatised’ and left battling mental health issues after she was shown a graphic magazine on the school bus at the age of six. Liz Walker, 42, from Brisbane, said she was ‘catapulted’ into an awareness of her sexuality after an older girl sat next to her and showed her a pornographic magazine she found under her brother’s bed. She started looking at porn every day and began ‘seeking out’ sexual interactions wherever she could - even trying out the scenarios she saw on other children.
The Daily Mail 8/2/2016
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BBC is just so desperate, says Patricia Routledge

Veteran actress Patricia Routledge has called the BBC ‘desperate’ for the way it recycles its old comedy shows. She hit out after it was revealed Keeping Up Appearances is to be brought back for a one-off show next year. The new version, which has the working title Young Hyacinth, will examine the early life of suburban snob Hyacinth Bucket.
The Daily Mail 8/2/1016
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India blocks Facebook Free Basics internet scheme

India’s telecoms regulator has blocked Facebook’s Free Basics internet service as part of a ruling in favour of net neutrality. The scheme offered free access to a limited number of websites. However, it was opposed by supporters of net neutrality who argued that data providers should not favour some online services over others. The free content included selected local news and weather forecasts, the BBC, Wikipedia and some health sites.
BBC News Online 8/2/2016
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Should Twitter ignore its users?

For the last 48 hours Twitter has been… well, all of a Twitter. An article in Buzzfeed suggesting that the social network was about to introduce what is known as an algorithmic timeline - promoting tweets deemed most relevant rather than publishing them in reverse chronological order - sparked a wave of what can only be described as furious panic. Under the hashtag #RIPTwitter, thousands, perhaps millions, told the world that this was the end of civilisation as we know it, that a beautiful thing was being crushed, that the company, whose share price has been tumbling for months, was signing its own death warrant.
BBC News Online 8/2/2016
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What can digital technology do for your country?

Digital technology has changed the way we live in private and in public, and governments are increasingly aware of the benefits of bringing public services online. But is this good for citizens? New technology offers many potential futures, but how can those futures be sustainable, secure and prosperous for everyone? This guide is produced in conjunction with the BBC World Service radio programme My Perfect Country.
BBC News Online 5/2/2016
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How Facebook updated ‘six degrees of separation’ (it’s now 3.57)

If you pick any two Facebook users, it’s been calculated there’s an average of 3.57 “degrees of separation” between them. The maths has been done using the social media giant’s handy data set of 1.6 billion people. Facebook wanted to test the age-old “six degrees of separation” theory to mark its 12th birthday. “This is a significant reflection of how closely connected the world has become,” the firm says. “When people connect, powerful things happen and lives are changed.
Newsbeat 5/2/2016
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Don’t ignore public opinion on BBC, Trust chair warns culture secretary

BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead has warned culture secretary John Whittingdale not to ignore the views of the public amid reports that some of the 190,000 responses to the government consultation on the BBC were too “left wing”. In a letter to the Conservative minister, Fairhead writes that she is “very concerned” that some of the responses since the green paper on the future of the BBC was launched last year might be ignored.
The Guardian 4/2/2016
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Why are YouTube stars so popular

British vlogger Zoella has just reached the milestone of 10m subscribers to her main YouTube channel, but she has a long way to go to catch its most popular creator PewDiePie, who is about to pass 42m. They’re just two of the most prominent YouTube stars. In October 2015, online-video tracking firm Tubular Labs reported that there were more than 17,000 YouTube channels with more than 100,000 subscribers, and nearly 1,500 with more than 1m. How have these YouTubers become so popular? It can seem baffling to people outside their main viewing demographic: smartphone-toting “millennials” who spend as much time (if not more) watching shortform video online as they do traditional TV shows.
The Guardian 3/2/2016
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S4C funding cut reversed by UK ministers pending review

S4C has been promised an extra £400,000 by the UK government, reversing the first year of proposed grant cuts. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale also announced a “comprehensive review” of S4C’s remit, governance and funding. “The UK government remains committed to supporting the valuable service S4C provides to Welsh speaking audiences,” he said. S4C gets £6.7m a year from the UK government, with most of its £80m funding coming from the licence fee.
BBC News Online 3/2/2016
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Gadget-free 1970s was happiest period, says ‘time-travelling’ TV family

The 1970s was the happiest decade for family life before the advent of technology began to fracture the generations, according to the stars of the new BBC2 time-travelling series Back in Time for the Weekend. In the follow-up to the hit series Back in Time for Dinner, the Ashby-Hawkins family from London was transported back last summer to the 1950s to live through each successive decade and experience the changes in their family life and leisure time. Their technology and creature comforts were stripped away and their house and working lives transformed so each day reflected a new year. But what that they noticed above all was the absence of technology and the effect that had on their relationships.
The Guardian 2/2/2016
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Flashing the flesh – a history of TV nudity

Two decades ago, the screenwriter Andrew Davies gave Colin Firth a skinny-dipping scene in a BBC TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It has become YouTube’s most popular man-in-water footage that doesn’t involve Tom Daley. Now Davies, in his current BBC1 version of War and Peace, has gone for what is technically known as a longer shot. On Sunday night, a Russian soldier, walking out of a lake, revealed a flash of penis 26 minutes after 9pm – the time known, with unusual appropriateness in this case, as the “watershed” for family viewing.
The Guardian 2/2/2016
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Figuring out why teens turn to pornography

Matthew — who is now 20 and has allowed the Deseret News to follow him through his struggle with pornography for the last several years under the condition he not be identified by his real name — is part of a group that many therapists believe is growing: adolescents who see themselves as addicted to pornography, often unable to function normally due to an obsession with sexual images on the Internet.
Deseret News 2/2/2016
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Films portraying smoking should get adult rating, says WHO

Films showing smoking should be given an adult rating to protect children from exposure to the “last frontier” in tobacco promotion, the World Health Organisation has said. Hoping to highlight the issue in the run-up to the Oscars, WHO said that as countries crack down on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, cigarette companies are turning to the film industry to recruit the next generation of smokers. In its report, Smoke-free Movies, published on Monday, WHO cites statistics claiming that 44% of all Hollywood films, and 36% of films rated for young people in 2014 contained smoking.
The Guardian 1/2/2016
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Illegal football streams are ‘dangerous’, study says

Football fans who access free streams of top matches are putting their devices, and personal privacy, at great risk, according to a study. It says the most popular sites are attracting upwards of eight million visits per month. Like many free services, the pirate sites rely on advertising. But with few reputable brands willing to attach their name to illegal distribution, the sites turn to malicious ads to pull in profits. Of the thousands of streams studied, the researchers said that as many as half planted malicious software on the users’ machine through forced ads and other deceptive techniques.
BBC News Online 1/2/2016
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