Page:Broadcasting Act 19810068 en.pdf/9

Rh (7) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the Authority to do, otherwise than under and in accordance with a licence under section 1 of the or section 15 of the , anything for the doing of which such a licence is requisite under those Acts respectively; and those Acts shall have effect in relation to the Authority accordingly.

General provisions as to programmes

General Provisions as to programmes.

4.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Authority to satisfy themselves that, so far as possible, the programmes broadcast by the Authority comply with the following requirements, that is to say—

(a) that nothing is included in the programmes which offends against good taste or decency or is likely to encourage or incite to crime or to lead to disorder or to be offensive to public feeling;

(b) that a sufficient amount of time in the programmes is given to news and news features and that all news given in the programmes (in whatever form) is presented with due accuracy and impartiality;

(c) that proper proportions of the recorded and other matter included in the programmes are of British origin and of British performance;

(d) that the programmes broadcast from any station or stations contain a suitable proportion of matter calculated to appeal specially to the tastes and outlook of persons served by the station or stations and, where another language as well as English is in common use among those so served, a suitable proportion of matter in that language;

(e) in the case of local sound broadcasting services, that the programmes broadcast from different stations for reception in different localities do not consist of identical or similar material to an extent inconsistent with the character of the services as local sound broadcasting services; and

(f) that due impartiality is preserved on the part of the persons providing the programmes as respects matters of political or industrial controversy or relating to current public policy.

In applying paragraph (f), a series of programmes may be considered as a whole.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1). it shall be the duty of the Authority to secure the exclusion