Checkpoint 1: The four motivations for choosing a text that Blumler and Katz suggested were:
-Diversion
-Personal relationships
-Personal identity
-Surveillance
Checkpoint 2: a cultural code involves different socio-economic groups who would interpret texts differently, as a higher class person and a working class person would interpret the same text differently.
........................................................................
Checkpoint 1: Demographic profiling is groupings of audience by their age, class, gender, geographical area, economic status and religion.
Checkpoint 2: Psychographic profiling is categorising audiences in terms of needs and motivation.
Checkpoint 3: advertisers create niche nicknames to suit the particular group as it is an easier way to define target audiences
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Online investigations into job candidates could be illegal
Companies could be infringing privacy if they dig up information about job applicants from social networking websites, an internet expert has warned.
John Carr, chairman of the UK Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, believes that employers and education officials could be crossing the line when they look up information about applicants on the web.
"There are lots of rumours about young job applicants being screened on Google or even university tutors looking at people applying for further education," he said.
"If that really is happening, then it could be illegal - when the kids are posting a picture of a party, they are only doing it to let their mates look. They are not doing it for an application form."
Britain's data protection laws are intended to prevent private information about individuals from being used without their knowledge or control. Regulators say that accessing publicly available information over the internet would not necessarily breach the law, and that it remains the duty of the individual to protect information they put online.
"Essentially if an individual - a potential employer or university tutor - looked at someone else's profile on a social networking site, it would not be a breach of data protection," said a spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Britain's privacy watchdog.
However, it remains unclear whether organisations covertly accessing people's private web pages or email accounts would constitute a breach of the law. Last week the ICO issued guidance to users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, urging them to take their privacy more seriously. A survey found that although 71% of 14- to 21-year-olds did not want their future employers to look at their profiles on social networking sites, only 40% realised that their online activities could be traced indefinitely.
The trend for potential employers to look to the web to find out more about applicants is growing, while officials are cracking down more heavily on social networking activities. More than 1,700 public sector employees have been sacked or disciplined for their use of the internet or email in the past three years.
Earlier this year the owner of data search company Infofind was found guilty of impersonating officials from the Department for Work and Pensions to gather information about 250 people. The data was sold to debt collection agencies for as much as £1,000 a time. The company was fined £3,200 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs.
John Carr, chairman of the UK Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, believes that employers and education officials could be crossing the line when they look up information about applicants on the web.
"There are lots of rumours about young job applicants being screened on Google or even university tutors looking at people applying for further education," he said.
"If that really is happening, then it could be illegal - when the kids are posting a picture of a party, they are only doing it to let their mates look. They are not doing it for an application form."
Britain's data protection laws are intended to prevent private information about individuals from being used without their knowledge or control. Regulators say that accessing publicly available information over the internet would not necessarily breach the law, and that it remains the duty of the individual to protect information they put online.
"Essentially if an individual - a potential employer or university tutor - looked at someone else's profile on a social networking site, it would not be a breach of data protection," said a spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Britain's privacy watchdog.
However, it remains unclear whether organisations covertly accessing people's private web pages or email accounts would constitute a breach of the law. Last week the ICO issued guidance to users of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, urging them to take their privacy more seriously. A survey found that although 71% of 14- to 21-year-olds did not want their future employers to look at their profiles on social networking sites, only 40% realised that their online activities could be traced indefinitely.
The trend for potential employers to look to the web to find out more about applicants is growing, while officials are cracking down more heavily on social networking activities. More than 1,700 public sector employees have been sacked or disciplined for their use of the internet or email in the past three years.
Earlier this year the owner of data search company Infofind was found guilty of impersonating officials from the Department for Work and Pensions to gather information about 250 people. The data was sold to debt collection agencies for as much as £1,000 a time. The company was fined £3,200 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs.
Tuesday 20 November 2007
EFFECTS THEORY
Checkpoint 1: there is a rise in media industries and the rise of the 'culture industry' resulted in increased standardisation within society. culture is processed through the mass media as something which is bought and sold. the mass audience is manipulated by society -ruling classes- and are less bale to criticise it.
Cheakpoint 2: desensitised is when repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive as social attitudes and expectations change over time- as if you would hear about a film that got banned but watch it yeras later and say that you didnt know what all the fuss was about.
Cheakpoint 2: desensitised is when repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive as social attitudes and expectations change over time- as if you would hear about a film that got banned but watch it yeras later and say that you didnt know what all the fuss was about.
BBC2 season to examine white working class
BBC2 has commissioned a season of documentary and drama focusing on the white working class in modern Britain.
Highlights of the channel's winter and spring schedule also include the return of cookery queen Delia Smith to UK television after an absence of six years, and a drama series, House of Saddam, set in Iraq during the Hussein regime.
Meanwhile, popular Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood will transfer to BBC2 from digital channel BBC3.
The "White" season, coming at a time of intense political and media debate on immigration, intends to explore the complex mix of feelings that has led many white working class people to feel marginalised.
Roly Keating, the BBC2 controller, said the role of the channel was to reflect contemporary society and it was a timely moment to examine the roots of this debate.
"The White season is a complex look at how life has changed for the white working class in Britain," Keating said."It will enable the audience to consider the views and circumstances of people who have a strong point of view and join in the debate, both online with the BBC and in their own homes and communities."The dramatic centrepiece is White Girl, written by Abi Morgan and starring Bleak House star Anna Maxwell Martin.The story focuses on an 11-year-old girl, Leah, her family's relocation to an entirely Muslim community in Bradford and her feelings of isolation, which are heightened when she discovers that she and her siblings are the only white children at school.Documentaries are to include Last Orders, telling the story of the embattled Wibsey working men's club in Bradford, while All White In Barking observes relationships and questions prejudices in a multicultural east London community.
Tim Samuels, the documentary-maker behind pensioners' band the Zimmers, will take a subversive look at the reality of immigration in middle England and whether the economy would cope if recent Polish immigrants were to return home.Finally, Rivers Of Blood assesses the impact of Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech, 40 years on.
BBC2 has commissioned several new comedy shows, including Taking the Flak, about a small African war seen through the eyes of a team of journalists reporting on the story, and Lab Rats, set in a university laboratory starring The Thick of It's Chris Addison.
A documentary series, Wonderland, is to tell an eclectic mix of real-life stories, including that of a couple meeting for the first time after falling in love in the online world of Second Life.
In Alternative Therapies, Professor Kathy Sykes will explore three popular and fast-growing alternative therapies: meditation, hypnotherapy and reflexology.
Monty Don dusts off his passport for Around The World In 80 Gardens, exploring 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens.
The new Delia Smith series will reveal the shortcuts that can cut effort but not quality when cooking, and the series also promises a glimpse into the veteran TV cook's own life.
Smith is one of Britain's most enduringly popular TV cooks but, aside from repeats, she has not been on UK television since the third series of How to Cook on BBC2 in early 2002.
Highlights of the channel's winter and spring schedule also include the return of cookery queen Delia Smith to UK television after an absence of six years, and a drama series, House of Saddam, set in Iraq during the Hussein regime.
Meanwhile, popular Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood will transfer to BBC2 from digital channel BBC3.
The "White" season, coming at a time of intense political and media debate on immigration, intends to explore the complex mix of feelings that has led many white working class people to feel marginalised.
Roly Keating, the BBC2 controller, said the role of the channel was to reflect contemporary society and it was a timely moment to examine the roots of this debate.
"The White season is a complex look at how life has changed for the white working class in Britain," Keating said."It will enable the audience to consider the views and circumstances of people who have a strong point of view and join in the debate, both online with the BBC and in their own homes and communities."The dramatic centrepiece is White Girl, written by Abi Morgan and starring Bleak House star Anna Maxwell Martin.The story focuses on an 11-year-old girl, Leah, her family's relocation to an entirely Muslim community in Bradford and her feelings of isolation, which are heightened when she discovers that she and her siblings are the only white children at school.Documentaries are to include Last Orders, telling the story of the embattled Wibsey working men's club in Bradford, while All White In Barking observes relationships and questions prejudices in a multicultural east London community.
Tim Samuels, the documentary-maker behind pensioners' band the Zimmers, will take a subversive look at the reality of immigration in middle England and whether the economy would cope if recent Polish immigrants were to return home.Finally, Rivers Of Blood assesses the impact of Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech, 40 years on.
BBC2 has commissioned several new comedy shows, including Taking the Flak, about a small African war seen through the eyes of a team of journalists reporting on the story, and Lab Rats, set in a university laboratory starring The Thick of It's Chris Addison.
A documentary series, Wonderland, is to tell an eclectic mix of real-life stories, including that of a couple meeting for the first time after falling in love in the online world of Second Life.
In Alternative Therapies, Professor Kathy Sykes will explore three popular and fast-growing alternative therapies: meditation, hypnotherapy and reflexology.
Monty Don dusts off his passport for Around The World In 80 Gardens, exploring 80 of the world's most celebrated gardens.
The new Delia Smith series will reveal the shortcuts that can cut effort but not quality when cooking, and the series also promises a glimpse into the veteran TV cook's own life.
Smith is one of Britain's most enduringly popular TV cooks but, aside from repeats, she has not been on UK television since the third series of How to Cook on BBC2 in early 2002.
Tuesday 13 November 2007
Bebo gives free access to TV and music
Youth social networking site Bebo will offer free content from major broadcasters - including the BBC - and record labels when it launches a series of media channels today.
The Open Media platform will also feature programmes from the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, BSkyB and Endemol in the UK, and CBS, Turner, MTV and ESPN in the US.
Programmes will Include Robin Hood and The Mighty Boosh.
Companies can embed their own media player on their Bebo channel, including their own advertising, and customise the page for their brand.
Following the launch at noon today in London and New York, additional media companies will be able to add their content through a "self-service" system.
Content will be free for Bebo's 40 million users to access, and content companies will receive 100% of revenues from in-video advertising - something that Bebo hopes will be a major incentive over similar offerings from rivals MySpace and Facebook.
Open Media also includes content from web-based services including music recommendation site Last.fm. user-content channel SumoTV and comedy site Crackle.
Evan Cohen, the Bebo director of strategy and operations, said the platform was not just an distribution tool, but an opportunity for media companies to exploit Bebo to cultivate the community around their brand.
Media content spreads virally, finding those "hard to reach" younger audiences who spend the majority of their time online.
Although media companies might prefer to build this community on their own site, said Cohen, "the reality is that they are not able to".
"There's a shift from that very possessive model of building up your own site to the super distributed mode - 'let's go where the audience is'," he added.
"This is a natural fit with younger audiences who see entertainment as a form of engagement and self-expression. Their life is about expression and defining who they are.
"The foundation of the site is communication but we want to build on top of that a compatible and powerful service of professional video and music that users can watch and put on their profiles."
I chose this article becuase i believe social networking is becoming so important in societ, in terms of interest and dangers. This just proves how popular it is and how many people go on it that tv and musicmoved moved into network to become part of the growth and target the young market.
The Open Media platform will also feature programmes from the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, BSkyB and Endemol in the UK, and CBS, Turner, MTV and ESPN in the US.
Programmes will Include Robin Hood and The Mighty Boosh.
Companies can embed their own media player on their Bebo channel, including their own advertising, and customise the page for their brand.
Following the launch at noon today in London and New York, additional media companies will be able to add their content through a "self-service" system.
Content will be free for Bebo's 40 million users to access, and content companies will receive 100% of revenues from in-video advertising - something that Bebo hopes will be a major incentive over similar offerings from rivals MySpace and Facebook.
Open Media also includes content from web-based services including music recommendation site Last.fm. user-content channel SumoTV and comedy site Crackle.
Evan Cohen, the Bebo director of strategy and operations, said the platform was not just an distribution tool, but an opportunity for media companies to exploit Bebo to cultivate the community around their brand.
Media content spreads virally, finding those "hard to reach" younger audiences who spend the majority of their time online.
Although media companies might prefer to build this community on their own site, said Cohen, "the reality is that they are not able to".
"There's a shift from that very possessive model of building up your own site to the super distributed mode - 'let's go where the audience is'," he added.
"This is a natural fit with younger audiences who see entertainment as a form of engagement and self-expression. Their life is about expression and defining who they are.
"The foundation of the site is communication but we want to build on top of that a compatible and powerful service of professional video and music that users can watch and put on their profiles."
I chose this article becuase i believe social networking is becoming so important in societ, in terms of interest and dangers. This just proves how popular it is and how many people go on it that tv and musicmoved moved into network to become part of the growth and target the young market.
Monday 12 November 2007
16. Julian BellamyBellamy: returned to Channel 4 after barely a year in charge of BBC3.
Job: head of programming, Channel 4
Age: 36
Industry: broadcasting
Annual programming budget: £510m
2006 ranking: 78
Julian Bellamy is the only Channel 4 executive in this year's list not to have been damaged by the Celebrity Big Brother race row. Probably because he was not there when it happened: the former BBC3 controller was appointed as Channel 4's head of programming in March.
It remains to be seen how Bellamy's relationship will work with the man he in effect replaced - and who he leapfrogs in this year's MediaGuardian 100 - Kevin Lygo.
Previously director of television with responsibility for the day-to-day running of the channel, Lygo moved upstairs to a more strategic role as director of television and content. But will he be able to let go?
"Bellamy is the only executive from Channel 4 who was not damaged by Celebrity Big Brother," said one of our panellists. "Lygo is down, [chief executive] Andy Duncan is down and [chairman] Luke Johnson is down.
"But Bellamy is new in the job and that is always a powerful position to be in. He can do what he wants. The field is wide open."
Channel 4's audience fell faster than any other terrestrial channel in the first six months of the year - a 9.1% audience share compared with 10.2% in the same period in 2006.
Bellamy had his own controversy to deal with when Channel 4 aired its documentary about the death of Princess Diana. The row passed relatively quickly and will be a footnote to Channel 4's year. Unfortunately for Lygo, the Celebrity Big Brother race row looks likely to be its defining moment.
Bellamy knows all about Channel 4. In an eight-year stint until 2005, he was its head of current affairs, head of factual entertainment - commissioning The Salon and The Sex Inspectors - and commissioning editor for Big Brother. He was also head of E4.
He returned to Channel 4 after barely a year in charge of BBC3, where his credits included Bafta-nominated comedies Little Miss Jocelyn and Pulling. He also oversaw Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood.
Under Bellamy, BBC3 also became known for "shock" documentaries with titles guaranteed to stand out on the electronic programme guide: Fuck Off ... I'm Fat, Me and My Man Breasts, Teens Addicted to Porn and Fat Men Can't Hunt.
Bellamy said BBC3 was a "great platform for commissioning original content across all genres" but that Channel 4 "additionally represents an opportunity to introduce innovations in terms of talent and ideas to a mainstream audience".
Bellamy began his career as a freelance assistant producer. He worked in current affairs programmes including ITV's World In Action and The Big Story, and Dispatches on Channel 4. He was appointed editor of current affairs at Channel 4 in 1998.
He is also something of a soothsayer, telling Channel 4 news and current affairs supremo Dorothy Byrne early in his career that he would one day run Channel 4. He promised to keep her on or give her a big fat pay-off.
"He's absolutely straight and fair, and really good at getting the best out of people," said Byrne. "My only objection to him is that he's a bit tall."
Thursday 8 November 2007
MARXIST & PLURALIST CONSEQUENCES
There is one elite in power of most of the media- Rupert Murdoch. This demonstrates information being fed to the audience by one.
The media does in cases such as Rupert Murdoch's get influence from one person, however e.g. newsapers, tv, viewers/ readers give negative feedback to things they don't agree with and many times these things are taken into account.
If these things are being run by one person as you said Murcoch then there would be biased news being passed down to the audience, therefore the audience do not really have a choice as they may try to escape from things but they are run by the same person.
Rupert Murdoch would dumbdown such issues which he would not want to print e.g. about page 3, he would say that its upto the girls and there for male pleasing.
Its up to the viewers/ consumers. If they do not like Murdochs's stuff then they don't have to buy his products e.g. the sun, therfore other newspapers which are not run by him.
At the end of the day, it is Rupert Murdoch who decides what goes in his papers and his other media texts. It is his ideologies and values which are being drip fed (hypodermic needle) to the passive audience.
But as he owns many companies, which do not all promote the same idealogy, he is providing variety for us and that is becuase he has to cater to our needs, as we will only consume what we want to consume.
They could be providing the same ideology but its just "dumbed down" made subtle so people carry on believing a plurist society exists, as long as one man runs (almost) everything we will continue to be under the power of the elitists.
- what is missing in this debate is media terminology and theorists such as:
the pluralistic model
the hegemonic model
gramsci
althusser
The media does in cases such as Rupert Murdoch's get influence from one person, however e.g. newsapers, tv, viewers/ readers give negative feedback to things they don't agree with and many times these things are taken into account.
If these things are being run by one person as you said Murcoch then there would be biased news being passed down to the audience, therefore the audience do not really have a choice as they may try to escape from things but they are run by the same person.
Rupert Murdoch would dumbdown such issues which he would not want to print e.g. about page 3, he would say that its upto the girls and there for male pleasing.
Its up to the viewers/ consumers. If they do not like Murdochs's stuff then they don't have to buy his products e.g. the sun, therfore other newspapers which are not run by him.
At the end of the day, it is Rupert Murdoch who decides what goes in his papers and his other media texts. It is his ideologies and values which are being drip fed (hypodermic needle) to the passive audience.
But as he owns many companies, which do not all promote the same idealogy, he is providing variety for us and that is becuase he has to cater to our needs, as we will only consume what we want to consume.
They could be providing the same ideology but its just "dumbed down" made subtle so people carry on believing a plurist society exists, as long as one man runs (almost) everything we will continue to be under the power of the elitists.
- what is missing in this debate is media terminology and theorists such as:
the pluralistic model
the hegemonic model
gramsci
althusser
Tuesday 6 November 2007
PLURALISM
In what ways do i agree with pluraslism?
'pluralists view society as a system of competing groups and interests'
The idea ofPluralism is the idea of a diverse range of the media being presented to the audence and them making the choice of which to view, they are therfore active as they are able to choose which text to view.
Also the idea of the media being a 'fourth estate' which is important to inform the audience.
the audience are now media literate andso generally the audience are given what they expect and what fulfills their expectations.
'pluralists view society as a system of competing groups and interests'
The idea ofPluralism is the idea of a diverse range of the media being presented to the audence and them making the choice of which to view, they are therfore active as they are able to choose which text to view.
Also the idea of the media being a 'fourth estate' which is important to inform the audience.
the audience are now media literate andso generally the audience are given what they expect and what fulfills their expectations.
Monday 5 November 2007
Channel 4 cleared over N-word row
Monday November 5 2007
Channel 4 has been cleared of breaching broadcasting regulations over its decision to transmit an incident in which a Big Brother contestant used a racially offensive word to describe another housemate.
Nineteen-year-old Emily Parr was axed from the show by producers after making the comment to Charley Uchea early in this summer's Big Brother series.
Emily Parr: acknowledged that she should have been 'more careful with her words'. Photograph: Channel 4 Ofcom said Channel 4's decision to broadcast the incident was justified by the context of the show, adding that it had made clear that the language was "offensive and unacceptable".
Around 450 complaints were made after Parr's comment was broadcast in a Channel 4 highlights episode of Big Brother on June 7 this year.
Parr, from Bristol, was dancing with two of her fellow contestants on the night of June 6-7 when she said to Uchea: "You pushing it out, you nigger."
When she was challenged by the pair, Parr said she was joking, adding that she had black friends who called her that.
Parr was removed from the house the following morning, June 7. At the time of her disqualification, Channel 4 said Parr had used a "racially offensive word" and that she had acknowledged she should have been "more careful with her words".
But some viewers complained that Channel 4 had over-reacted by removing Parr from the house, and had failed its its duty of care to the reality TV contestant.
Channel 4 was also cleared today by Ofcom of any wrong-doing in a similar incident on this year's series of the reality show when a contestant was called a "poof".
The behaviour of the housemates and Channel 4 was under close scrutiny in the wake of the Celebrity Big Brother race row when the treatment of the Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara prompted 54,000 complaints and led to effigies being burnt on the streets of India.
"Ofcom has made clear in previous adjudications and findings that the broadcasters' right to broadcast such material and the audience's right to receive it is an important principle," said the regulator in its ruling today.
"It has been established over many series that the Big Brother audience expects to see all aspects of the housemates' characters exposed during their stay in the house.
"Channel 4 would not have been expected to keep key character information from viewers, since it is the viewers who decide who to vote for.
"By including these scenes, Channel 4 offered viewers an insight into all the housemates' characters, not just Emily Parr's. In Ofcom's view this context is in line with the editorial content of the series and audience expectations."
The regulator said the programme had made clear that the use of that particular word was "offensive and unacceptable ... Ofcom therefore considered that there was appropriate justification and there was no breach of the code".
Separately, around 200 viewers complained after two incidents in which another Big Brother contestant, Laura Williams, called housemate Liam McGough a "poof".
Viewers who complained said the word was as offensive to the gay community as the word used by Parr was to the black community.
Channel 4 told Ofcom that "very careful consideration" had been given to its inclusion in the show.
But the broadcaster said that it had underestimated the offence it caused viewers after the first comment was aired.
When it was repeated, Big Brother called Williams into the diary room to reprimand her for her language, and she was later evicted from the house by viewers.
Channel 4 said the decision to broadcast the comment had been considered at senior levels in both the channel and the production company, Endemol.
In its ruling, Ofcom said: "For the broadcaster, the important distinction had been made that Laura Williams, in contrast to Emily Parr, had not used this term directly against a gay housemate (Liam McGough is not gay) and it had been very clear that the gay housemate whom it had been used in front of had not been offended by her use of the term, unlike Charley Uchea in the Emily Parr incident."
The regulator said there was "insufficient or no evidence to suggest that Laura Williams used the word ... in a denigratory way".
The comments were included in Big Brother updates on Channel 4 broadcast on July 1 and July 4.
Ofcom said it was "not possible or appropriate at present to establish definitively the degree of offence use of the world 'poof' can cause in all contexts".
But it said it was "sympathetic" to the concerns voiced by complainants about the use of the word, and reminded broadcasters to "exercise care about the frequency with, and context in, the word is broadcast".
I chose this article as at the time this issue caused alot of controversy, although it actually happened a while ago it was shocking to hear this on channel four.
Channel 4 has been cleared of breaching broadcasting regulations over its decision to transmit an incident in which a Big Brother contestant used a racially offensive word to describe another housemate.
Nineteen-year-old Emily Parr was axed from the show by producers after making the comment to Charley Uchea early in this summer's Big Brother series.
Emily Parr: acknowledged that she should have been 'more careful with her words'. Photograph: Channel 4 Ofcom said Channel 4's decision to broadcast the incident was justified by the context of the show, adding that it had made clear that the language was "offensive and unacceptable".
Around 450 complaints were made after Parr's comment was broadcast in a Channel 4 highlights episode of Big Brother on June 7 this year.
Parr, from Bristol, was dancing with two of her fellow contestants on the night of June 6-7 when she said to Uchea: "You pushing it out, you nigger."
When she was challenged by the pair, Parr said she was joking, adding that she had black friends who called her that.
Parr was removed from the house the following morning, June 7. At the time of her disqualification, Channel 4 said Parr had used a "racially offensive word" and that she had acknowledged she should have been "more careful with her words".
But some viewers complained that Channel 4 had over-reacted by removing Parr from the house, and had failed its its duty of care to the reality TV contestant.
Channel 4 was also cleared today by Ofcom of any wrong-doing in a similar incident on this year's series of the reality show when a contestant was called a "poof".
The behaviour of the housemates and Channel 4 was under close scrutiny in the wake of the Celebrity Big Brother race row when the treatment of the Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara prompted 54,000 complaints and led to effigies being burnt on the streets of India.
"Ofcom has made clear in previous adjudications and findings that the broadcasters' right to broadcast such material and the audience's right to receive it is an important principle," said the regulator in its ruling today.
"It has been established over many series that the Big Brother audience expects to see all aspects of the housemates' characters exposed during their stay in the house.
"Channel 4 would not have been expected to keep key character information from viewers, since it is the viewers who decide who to vote for.
"By including these scenes, Channel 4 offered viewers an insight into all the housemates' characters, not just Emily Parr's. In Ofcom's view this context is in line with the editorial content of the series and audience expectations."
The regulator said the programme had made clear that the use of that particular word was "offensive and unacceptable ... Ofcom therefore considered that there was appropriate justification and there was no breach of the code".
Separately, around 200 viewers complained after two incidents in which another Big Brother contestant, Laura Williams, called housemate Liam McGough a "poof".
Viewers who complained said the word was as offensive to the gay community as the word used by Parr was to the black community.
Channel 4 told Ofcom that "very careful consideration" had been given to its inclusion in the show.
But the broadcaster said that it had underestimated the offence it caused viewers after the first comment was aired.
When it was repeated, Big Brother called Williams into the diary room to reprimand her for her language, and she was later evicted from the house by viewers.
Channel 4 said the decision to broadcast the comment had been considered at senior levels in both the channel and the production company, Endemol.
In its ruling, Ofcom said: "For the broadcaster, the important distinction had been made that Laura Williams, in contrast to Emily Parr, had not used this term directly against a gay housemate (Liam McGough is not gay) and it had been very clear that the gay housemate whom it had been used in front of had not been offended by her use of the term, unlike Charley Uchea in the Emily Parr incident."
The regulator said there was "insufficient or no evidence to suggest that Laura Williams used the word ... in a denigratory way".
The comments were included in Big Brother updates on Channel 4 broadcast on July 1 and July 4.
Ofcom said it was "not possible or appropriate at present to establish definitively the degree of offence use of the world 'poof' can cause in all contexts".
But it said it was "sympathetic" to the concerns voiced by complainants about the use of the word, and reminded broadcasters to "exercise care about the frequency with, and context in, the word is broadcast".
I chose this article as at the time this issue caused alot of controversy, although it actually happened a while ago it was shocking to hear this on channel four.
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