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Ofcom finds Glory TV in breach of offensive material

Glory TV has been found in breach of Ofcom rules for broadcasting a show, which could have offended viewers with a particular religious perspective.

During routine monitoring, Ofcom identified the one-hour programme, ‘Bible ki Nabouat – The Prophecy of the Bible’ – broadcast in January 2018. As the programme was broadcast mainly in Urdu, Ofcom translated the content into English. The Licensee was given an opportunity to comment on the accuracy of the translation and did not dispute it.

Glory TV said that the presenters were dealing with an interpretation of Bible prophecy relating to events in the Middle-East and how they related to Israel with a Christian eschatological scriptural view. The programme was aimed primarily at an Asian Christian audience, but also to a Pakistani Muslim audience who watch Glory TV and have an interest in these issues due to their convergent Islamic view on the subject. It had received no
complaints about the programme.

Glory TV said that it takes our rules seriously and appreciates the need to avoid making comments out of context, when handling potentially offensive subjects. It said that the comments made about Arab opinion were derived from comments made by numerous Arab political commentators in news and social media. It said that although this is very well known in the Asian community, it should have “give[n] examples of, these statements/policies being a matter of public record”. It said it would “no longer repeat this programme and will update it in due course, with greater context and clarification, especially as recent events serve to highlight the tenet of the original programme”.

Ofcom recognised that the Arab-Israeli conflict is long-fought and ongoing. However, in Ofcom’s view, this offered little contextual justification for the comments in question. These comments portrayed the entire Arab world as wanting the annihilation of Jewish people and asserted that the Antichrist would present himself as their Christ/Messiah and stand in the new Jewish Temple, before Arab people slaughtered Israelis in a persecution like the holocaust.

The discussion of a future persecution of Jewish people including the statement that “they will be attacked first” and likening such an atrocity to the “holocaust” was likely to be highly offensive to both Jewish people and viewers more generally.

Ofcom considered that the presenters’ comments carried added weight and a greater potential to offend by virtue of their position as respected commentators on the Bible. The programme did not reflect differing interpretations of the religious texts and no alternative perspective was offered to counter their extremely negative views.

For the reasons set out above, we considered that the potential offence caused by the programme was not justified by the context. Therefore, Ofcom’s Decision is the programme breached Rule 2.3.

Glory TV has ceased broadcasting in the UK.