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ATN Bangla rapped for “favouritsm” in election show

ATN Bangla
ATN Bangla

ATN Bangla has been pulled up by media regulator Ofcom after a complaint from a viewer about a programme which featured Conservative Party candidates standing in the London Borough of Newham in the local elections that took place on 22nd May 2014. The complainant considered that the programme favoured the Conservative Party in respect of those elections.

ATN Bangla admitted that there were a: ���few statements in supportive of the Conservative Party at the beginning of the programme but this lasted only few minutes and the rest of the recording will show that this did not occur any further�۝. It added that the two presenters in this case: ���remained impartial throughout after the first few minutes of the show�۝. In addition, ATN Bangla said that only one of the guests, Syed Ahmed: ���put through his points of view in support of the Conservative Party�۝. By contrast, it said that the other guest, Professor Muhammad Farmer: ���did not represent any political party�۝.

Ofcom said it was concerned about ATN Bangla�۪s apparent lack of understanding about the Code�۪s rules relating to elections. It therefore requested the channel to attend a meeting to explain its compliance processes in this area.