Assessment of Broadcasting Standards Authority Decisions: A Legal Perspective, 2006
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Assessment of Broadcasting Standards Authority Decisions (PDF 189.41 KB)
Date published: April 2006
Researcher/Author: Professor J F Burrows
Scope
- Assesses the legal robustness of the decisions, the quality and the consistency of the legal reasoning in the decisions
Methodology
- Viewing of all decisions of BSA released during 2005
- Selected 75 for closer study
Results
- From a legal perspective, the BSA decisions are very good
- Exhibit appropriate level of rigour and analysis based on principles which are legally sound
- Assessment based on: structure, language, the standards, reasoning, consistency, relationship with the law, accuracy, balance, Bill of Rights Act, orders
- Very little objection from a legal point of view or any other point of view to the way BSA performs its statutory task
- Impressed with the succinct yet persuasive nature of the decisions and with the consistency they display
- Summarises in the form of brief rules the principles which the Authority applies specifically on Fairness, Balance and Privacy standards and in the section on costs
- Where such rules have developed, one should perhaps be thinking of a way of publicising them to make them more accessible