** Hastings Rock Radio **
BROADCASTING News
OFCOM FINES PANJAB RADIO £30,000
Ofcom has today imposed a £30,000 financial penalty on Panjab Radio for
serious breaches of our broadcasting rules [3].
Panjab Radio is a faith and cultural radio station for the UK Asian
community, broadcasting in Punjabi.
Our investigation found that during the Shamsher Singh Rai Programme,
the presenter encouraged listeners to take the law into their own hands,
and to carry out violent attacks against people he considered to have
disrespected the Sikh faith.
We concluded this was an extremely serious breach of our rules on
incitement of crime and offensive content, which warranted the
imposition of statutory sanctions.
These include a financial penalty, to be paid by Panjab Radio to HM
Paymaster General, and a direction to the station to air a statement of
our findings on a date - and in a form - to be determined by Ofcom.
