ASA Adjudication on Press TV Ltd

Ad

A poster, for Press TV, a satellite news channel, stated "PRESS TV GIVING A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS. 24/7 NEWS TRUTH. THE WORLD IS CHANGING. PEOPLE ARE CHANGING. OPINIONS ARE CHANGING. THE NEWS IS CHANGING. WHY DO YOU STILL WATCH THE SAME TIRED NEWS CHANNEL? GET THE FULL STORY AT PRESS TV."

Issue

Four complainants challenged whether:

1. the ad was misleading, because it did not make clear that the channel was owned by the Iranian government;

2. the claim "24/7 NEWS TRUTH";

3. the claim "the full story"

were misleading, because they implied that the channel offered unbiased reporting of news events, which they did not believe was the case.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Press TV said they had consulted Transport for London, who had had no objection to the campaign, and they considered the ad was comparable to other ads for TV channels.  Press TV questioned whether it was necessary to state the funding source of the channel to the public and did not consider that the ad's text had an adverse effect on those who saw it.

2. & 3. They stated that "the full story" was a subjective term and all channels provided the full story as they saw it.  They stated that no news broadcaster could provide full coverage of every single item with all relevant perspectives, given the number of events that occurred each day and the best a broadcaster could do was to provide the coverage it deemed necessary in compliance with its editorial policy.  They provided links to news stories and footage from June 2009 showing their coverage of the post-election demonstrations.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted that it was not common practice for news channels to state who they were owned or funded by in their advertising material and, in not stating who the owner was, we did not consider the ad was misleading on this point.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 8.1 (Matters of opinion) but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We considered that "24/7 TRUTH" would be seen as the station's opinion of the information it provided rather than an objective claim.  We concluded that the ad was not misleading on this point.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 8.1 (Matters of opinion) but did not find it in breach.

3. Not upheld

We noted that the website links and news footage provided by Press TV showed that there had been regular coverage of the events in Iran after the presidential election results were announced.  Because Press TV had shown us that they had provided coverage of the opposition to the election results, including the post-election unrest and banned rallies, we concluded that the claim "the full story" was not misleading.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 8.1 (Matters of opinion) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)