Hostage jokes draw record fine on UK radio station

British media regulators today imposed their biggest sanction ever against a radio broadcaster, fining Manchester's Key 103 FM £125,000 ($215,500) for comments made by a late-night presenter.

In October last year, James Stannage joked about the death of Kenneth Bigley, a British engineer who was murdered while held hostage in Iraq. Stannage also made offensive remarks about Bigley's wife and the fact that she was from Thailand, according to media regulator Ofcom. He also made highly abusive comments about Muslims, Ofcom said, and used a mock Asian accent.

Six listeners complained about Stannage's material on four late-night phone-in programmes, and Ofcom said the managing director for radio programming at Emap, which owns the station, conceded it was "about the worst thing" he had ever heard on the radio after 30 years in the industry. "The broadcaster made no attempt to defend the content and agreed that the material had crossed the lines into an area that was 'totally unacceptable,'" according to the adjudication.

The station had been fined twice for remarks made by Stannage that were considered offensive. He no longer works there. Key 103 FM also is required to broadcast the regulator's finding three times a day for a week.

Source: Media Network