Ofcom defends 9pm watershed

Ofcom has dismissed claims by a group of MPs that the 9pm watershed is failing to protect young children because they can now access television online.
Giving evidence at a culture, media and sport committee hearing today, the Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, denied the regulator had put itself in an "impossible and absurd position" by not doing more to regulate objectionable content on the web.
Richards was responding to claims made by Nigel Evans, the Ribble Valley conservative MP, who argued that Ofcom's powers over broadcasting should be more rigorously applied to internet content.
"It's important to remember that the watershed isn't dead," Richards said.
"Despite the internet, television remains remarkably resilient as a medium. The watershed is still a very important and I think it will remain so for several years."
The cross-party group of MPs raised concerns about services such as the BBC iPlayer, which make it possible for anyone to view post-watershed content at any time of the day.
The Ofcom partner for content and standards, Stuart Purvis, said a lot of the responsibility rested with parents to make sure their children were not watching inappropriate material.
"If you look at the iPlayer, it immediately asks you if you are over 16," Purvis said.
"The question that arises is: Are children going to understand that or are they going to override it?"
He added that new technology had "in a sense disadvantaged parents" who might not necessarily know how to use access locks to protect children from post-watershed content.
However, both Purvis and Richards dismissed suggestions that it was the role of Ofcom on its own to encourage parents to become more aware of their children's online activities.
"We are definitely not the right body to deliver a mass campaign to promote media literacy," Richards said.
"We are not qualified enough to do it. We don't have the skills to do it. I think somebody does have to do that, but it's not the duty of Ofcom.
"That sort of mass campaign to bring parents understanding of literacy issues is not appropriate for us."
Asked by the panel whether he would allow a 10-year-old to watch Channel 4 drama Shameless, Richards replied: "Parents have got to make that judgment. These are matters for parents.
"The issue for us is: Is it in the right place in the schedule? I think it is."
Richards also told MPs that Ofcom would be willing to cooperate if police decided to launch an investigation into ITV's premium-rate phone abuses, but he said the regulator had not yet been approached to provide evidence.
Ofcom's appearance before the culture, media and sport committee comes after the publication of a report by Dr Tanya Byron in March on how to protect children on the internet.
Among the key recommendations was the introduction of a national strategy for child internet safety, which involves a self-regulatory approach to internet content.
The Byron report also called for better provision of information to families, after it concluded that there was a "generational digital divide", which meant parents did not feel equipped to protect their children online.

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US releases al-Jazeera cameraman

An al-Jazeera cameraman detained by American forces in Afghanistan was last night released after spending nearly six years imprisoned without charge at Guantánamo Bay.

Sami al-Haj, 39, was arrested on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan on December 15 2001, while on assignment to cover the war against the Taliban. Although he had a valid visa to work in Afghanistan, US intelligence alleged that he was an al-Qaida operative, and he was transferred to Guantánamo in June 2002.

Last night, his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said Haj was en route to his home in Sudan to be reunited with his wife and son. He said: "I'm very glad Sami has finally been released, but the question is why he wasn't freed many years ago."

The US military alleged that Haj had secretly interviewed Osama bin Laden, smuggled guns for al-Qaida and worked as a financial courier for Chechen rebels. But the evidence against him was never revealed, and he was never charged.

Prior to his release, Haj had been on hunger strike since January 2007, and was forced to undergo "assisted feeding" via a tube through his nose. According to Stafford Smith, he was suicidal and had throat cancer, but camp authorities withheld medical treatment. "We are very concerned about him, because he has been under a tremendous amount of stress and has been on hunger strike for 480 days. He has asked to be taken straight to a hospital in Khartoum," Stafford Smith said.
In exchange for Haj's release, the Sudanese government has agreed to ban him from working as a journalist or leaving Sudan, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, said: "Sami al-Haj should never have been held so long. US authorities never proved that he had been involved in any criminal activity."

Haj's case was one of number involving journalists captured by US forces while reporting from war zones. Two weeks ago US forces in Iraq released Bilal Hussein, a photographer from the Associated Press news agency, who was detained in Ramadi in April 2006.

Commentators in the Middle East viewed Haj's imprisonment as a proxy punishment for al-Jazeera, whose broadcasts have angered US officials.

When the BBC reporter Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza, Haj appealed for his release. Johnston in turn, called on the US authorities to free Haj. But Stafford Smith said much of the western media had been slow to take up Haj's case.

A spokesman for the Pentagon refused to comment on the case.