UK radio apologises after accidentally announcing King Charles' death
LONDON: A community radio station breached the rules after accidentally announcing the death of King Charles III in a May broadcast, a UK watchdog said on Monday.
In May, the UK radio station Radio Caroline inadvertently announced the death of King Charles III during a broadcast, prompting a strong rebuke from the UK's media regulator, Ofcom. The station, a former pirate radio that now primarily plays rock music, aired false messages claiming the monarch had passed away, followed by the national anthem and a 16-minute silence.
Ofcom received two complaints about the broadcast and determined that the error, along with the length of time it took to correct it, violated two of its rules. The first rule mandates that news reports must be accurate and impartial, while the second requires significant mistakes to be acknowledged and corrected promptly on air.
According to Ofcom, the mistake occurred when a staff member accessed pre-recorded sound files meant for the event of the monarch's death while performing maintenance on the studio computer. The staff member played the files out of curiosity, disrupting the stream from the presenter's remote location and broadcasting the incorrect information to listeners.
The presenter, believing they were still on air, did not immediately respond to calls from colleagues who had noticed the error. After realizing the mistake, the presenter apologized 30 minutes later. Radio Caroline's staff member who played the files was promptly reprimanded and apologized as well. The station has since removed the pre-recorded files from the studio computer.
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