Mon 21/07/2008 15:37

To Stewart Purvis of OFCOM:

Dear Mr Purvis,

I believe that Hamish Mykura has been misrepresenting today’s ruling on “The Great Global Warming Swindle” – to make the claim that the programme has been vindicated on matters of fact – when reality your judgement says:

“The accompanying Ofcom guidance to the Code explains that “Ofcom is required to guard against harmful or offensive material, and it is possible that actual or potential harm and/or offence may be the result of misleading material in relation to the representation of factual issues. This rule is therefore designed to deal with content which materially misleads the audience so as to cause harm or offence.” (Emphasis in original).

Ofcom therefore only regulates misleading material where that material is likely to cause harm or offence. As a consequence, the requirement that content must not materially mislead the audience is necessarily a high test. In dealing with these complaints therefore Ofcom had to ascertain – not whether the programme was accurate – but whether it materially misled the audience with the result that harm and/or offence was likely to be caused. It is not within Ofcom’s remit or ability in this case as the regulator of the ‘communications industry’ to establish or seek to adjudicate on ‘facts’ such as whether global warming is a man-made phenomenon, nor is Ofcom able to reach conclusions about the validity of any particular scientific theories.” ( Page 14)

I understand the ruling to mean that you were making a judgment about whether the presentation of misleading information was likely to cause ‘harm or offence’ – and your ruling specifically did not adjudicate on ‘facts’ – or in any way endorse the content of the programme – which is the impression Mr Mykura seeks to achieve in this BBC interview:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7517595.stm

(from this web-page)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7517509.stm

Please could you listen to the interview, and issue a public clarification if you are in agreement,

Regards

Dean Morrison