UK radio station falsely announces King Charles’ death, breaches standards

In May, a U.K. radio station called Radio Caroline mistakenly announced that King Charles, 77, had died during a show. This false news led to two complaints being filed with Ofcom, the country's media regulator. The incident occurred while the station was airing pre-recorded statements on host The Barry Marsh Show. After the false reports, the national anthem was played and the station resumed regular programming after about 16 minutes of silence.

Ofcom found that Radio Caroline had violated two rules under the Broadcasting Code. The first rule requires news to be reported accurately and impartially. The second rule mandates that significant mistakes in news reports must be acknowledged and corrected quickly, with suitable scheduling for corrections.

Radio Caroline explained that the incident happened when an employee was performing maintenance on a studio computer, inadvertently playing three pre-recorded statements meant for use in the event of King Charles' death. The staff member did this out of curiosity, interrupting the remote stream from the presenter's location and causing the false announcements to air.

After realizing the mistake, the employee halted the files and left the office. The show's host, unaware of the broadcast, contacted a station engineer who was already aware of the situation. The station then returned to its regular programming. Ofcom praised the station's staff for their swift actions and their commitment to correcting the error.

The station reprimanded the staff member responsible for the error and moved the pre-recorded files to an external hard drive. They also reminded presenters and staff about the proper procedures for using such material. The false broadcast took place at a time when King Charles still ruled the United Kingdom.