UK radio station breached rules with false King Charles death announcement

A UK radio station breached broadcasting rules after it mistakenly announced the death of King Charles III during a May broadcast, media regulator Ofcom has ruled.

Radio Caroline, a community station known for its rock music programming, triggered pre-recorded messages announcing the monarch’s death while a programme was being broadcast remotely.

The message stated that normal programming had been suspended as a mark of respect following the “passing” of King Charles III. It was followed by the UK national anthem and about 16 minutes of silence before regular programming resumed.

Ofcom said the station received two complaints over the broadcast and found that the incident breached rules requiring news content to be accurate and significant errors to be corrected promptly.

The regulator said the false announcement represented a “very significant inaccuracy”, while the delay of about 30 minutes before the presenter addressed the error also breached broadcasting requirements.

According to Ofcom, the incident occurred when a staff member accessed pre-recorded audio files designed for use in the event of the monarch’s death while carrying out maintenance on a studio computer.

The staff member reportedly played the files “out of curiosity”, causing the remote broadcast to be interrupted and the pre-recorded announcement to go on air.

The person then panicked and left the station after realising the mistake, Ofcom said.

The presenter, who was unaware that the broadcast had been interrupted, did not immediately notice the problem because they were not monitoring the programme through an internet output feed and did not respond promptly to calls from colleagues.

Radio Caroline apologised for the incident and told Ofcom that the staff member responsible had been reprimanded and had also apologised.

The station said it had since removed the pre-recorded files from the studio computer to prevent a recurrence.

Ofcom said the incident demonstrated the importance of adequate safeguards around sensitive pre-recorded material, particularly content relating to major national events.

AFP