04/08/2017
We encourage our listeners to be LGBT media champions and to make justified noise about homophobia in the press, the broadcast media or online. Sometimes, we know that gay and trans activists get frustrated with the broadcasting and comms regulator OFCOM which tries to balance the protection of minority communities with the need for free speech on the airwaves. However, lest you thought that they were too lenient with hate speech, OFCOM has used its ultimate sanction against a community radio in Sheffield for transmitting extremist speech, and actually revoked its broadcast license. Iman FM was taken off the air after making what was described as an “extremely serious” breach of the Broadcasting Code. The station had managed to broadcast several hours of lectures by a now deceased cleric called Anwar Al Awlaki, whose misogynist, anti-semitic and homophobic speeches were compounded by his calls for attacks on the West and his alleged links to Al-Quaeda. The station owners had apparently been asleep during the times when the speeches went out, which was in the small hours of the morning. However, OFCOM still removed the station's permissions to transmit on FM. It is not known whether the station, which has profusely apologised for the slip up, will relaunch online and try to regain its credibility.
