Matthew Wright murder joke caused 'considerable offence', says Ofcom

Ofcom has today said that comments made by Matthew Wright on The Wright Stuff about the murder of a Scottish teenager last year caused "considerable offence" to viewers.

However, the media regulator acknowledged the actions of Channel 5 to deal with the situation, and said that the matter is now resolved.

Wright was forced to apologise after he appeared to joke about the murder of Liam Aitchison on the Scottish island of Lewis in a newspaper review on the show on December 6 last year.

Discussing an article in the Daily Mail about the first murder case in the Hebrides for 40 years, Wright caused controversy by putting on a Scottish accent and saying "there's been another murder", copying the famous phrase from detective show Taggart.

Also on the Channel 5 show, guest panellist Charlie Baker described the investigation into the murder as "the longest-ever episode of Taggart".

On December 7, Wright apologised for the comments, saying that he did not intend to "belittle the seriousness or tragedy of the story". But he caused further controversy by calling on those running an online campaign to get people to complain to Ofcom about the incident to "grow up".

The following day, a further apology was aired on The Wright Stuff, including Wright saying that he was "very sincerely" sorry for any offence caused to the family of the 16-year-old.

But Ofcom decided to launch an investigation after receiving 2,358 complaints from viewers, making The Wright Stuff edition the most complained-about show of last year.

In response, Channel 5 accepted that the comments made by Wright and Baker were "unfortunate, misjudged and entirely inappropriate".

The broadcaster said that Wright had reacted to the story in "an unplanned and highly inappropriate manner, which producers have confirmed was entirely unforeseen by the production team".



Panellist Baker then reacted in a "similarly thoughtless fashion", before the presenters moved on to a more general discussion about fishing in the Western Isles.

Channel 5 accepted that "with the benefit of hindsight" it would have been better to issue an apology on the day of original transmission, rather than wait until the following day.

The broadcaster also noted that Wright's "ad-libbed" comments about the online campaign against him had "clearly failed to convey his intended meaning" in the apology, and so he was ordered to do a scripted apology the following day.

Ofcom took into account that The Wright Stuff is a live programme known for its spontaneous and unscripted nature, but said that the comments "made light of the murder", and "paid not regard" to the seriousness of the investigation.

The potential for offence was heightened because Wright made his joke while a photograph of the victim Liam Aitchison was being shown on screen, said Ofcom.

The regulator said that the shift in discussion to fishing may have "increased the degree of offence caused", while the absence of a "timely apology" further compounded the damage.

"The audience for The Wright Stuff is accustomed to Matthew Wright and his guests discussing a variety of topics in the news and making controversial remarks, often on the spur of the moment and to stimulate a response from guests and the studio audience," said Ofcom.

"In Ofcom's opinion however, and as Channel 5 has acknowledged, the comments made by Matthew Wright on this occasion went beyond the likely expectations of the audience for this programme."

Ofcom therefore concluded that there was insufficient context to justify the offence that Matthew Wright's comments caused to viewers, and in this instance Channel 5 did not apply generally accepted standards.

However, Ofcom noted that Channel 5 has issued two broadcast apologies after the comments, and apologised directly to Liam Aitchison's family. The edition of The Wright Stuff was also removed from its video on-demand service, and Channel 5 has improved its compliance procedures around the programme.

"Ofcom recognises that the comments caused considerable offence, particularly to viewers in Scotland," said the regulator.

"On balance, however, and in light of the steps taken by Channel 5 to mitigate this offence, Ofcom considered the matter resolved."