Ofcom Content Board

Published: 30 January 2024

Last updated: 25 June 2024

The Content Board is a committee of the main Board and provides advisory opinions to the Executive on its work on quality and standards for television and radio. It has members representing each of the countries in the UK, and includes members with extensive broadcasting experience. It is charged with understanding, analysing and championing the voices and interest of the viewer, the listener and citizen.

The Content Board is a committee of the main Ofcom Board, with delegated and advisory responsibility for a wide range of content issues, predominantly dealing with broadcasting. It is set up under statute, specifically Section 12(1) of the Communications Act 2003.

The Ofcom Board will seek advice and recommendations from the Content Board on relevant content-related matters.

The Content Board serves as Ofcom's primary forum for advice related to the regulation of television and radio quality and standards. It is charged with understanding, analysing and championing the voices and interest of the viewer, the listener and citizen. It will examine issues where the citizen interest extends beyond the consumer interest, with focus on those aspects of the public interest which competition and market forces do not reach.

Content Board members will consider content issues in three categories:

Tier 1 concerns negative content regulation. It covers matters principally concerning harm and offence, accuracy and impartiality, fairness and privacy.

Tier 2 relates to quantitative matters, such as quotas for independent television production, regional production and original EU/UK production.

Tier 3 covers the public service broadcasters; and in this context Ofcom has particular responsibility for ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

Members will also consider format regulation for radio and will advise the Ofcom Board on other issues as required.

The majority of Content Board members are part-time and drawn from diverse backgrounds across the UK. Four are appointed to represent to Ofcom the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions.

23 January 2024

26 March 2024

30 April 2024

2 July 2024

1 October 2024

19 November 2024

Clive Jones, Chair

Born and brought up in the South Wales Valleys, Clive Jones spent most of his working life at ITV as a journalist, producer and editor with YTV and TV-AM and later as CEO of both Central Television and the Carlton Television Group. He also served as Managing Director of the ITV Network and was the first CEO of ITV News and Regions, following the creation of ITV plc.

He trained as a journalist with the Yorkshire Post after graduating from the LSE.

Clive also chairs Sightsavers, the UK’s sight loss charity, the Runnymede Trust, the race equality think tank and is the Ombudsman for the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He chaired the Disasters Emergency Committee, was on the board of S4C and its commercial arm S4C Masnachol for six years and is a former chair of both the Wales IP Fund and National Theatre Wales.

Clive Jones joined the Ofcom Board on 12 February 2024 when he also became Chair of the Content Board. His appointment runs until 11 February 2028.

Will Harding

Will has almost 30 years’ experience in the media industry. He started his career as a management consultant with KPMG, before spending five years at BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios) where he worked across the BBC’s commercial and international operations.

He later helped to launch ask.com in the UK before moving to Sky, where he became Commercial and Operations Director of its new media business. He joined GCap Media plc in 2006 as Group Strategy Director.
Following Global Media & Entertainment Ltd’s acquisition of GCap Media in 2008, he was appointed Global’s Chief Strategy Officer and joined the main Global board. During his time at Global, Will was responsible for establishing the Global Academy, a state school for young people from all backgrounds wanting to start a career in the creative industries. Will stood down from the Global Media and Entertainment Ltd board in December 2020.

Since 2021 he has been a Non-Executive Director of Primedia, the leading Africa-focused media and advertising group, and a Trustee of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust.

Will Harding joined the Ofcom Board on 3 October 2022. His appointment runs until 2 October 2026.

Bob Downes

Bob Downes was appointed to the Ofcom Board with effect from 1 February 2018. He is a member of the Content Board and the People Committee. Bob was Chairman of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency until 2023. He chairs the Commission for Communications Regulation’s Independent Oversight Body, which oversees the implementation and operation of an enhanced Regulatory Governance Model in Ireland by Eir. Bob is an advisor to a number of small technology businesses, including Kube Networks in Glasgow. He has a background in telecommunications, arts and culture organisations and with business and technology universities.

Bob Downes joined the Ofcom Board on 1 February 2018. His appointment runs until 31 January 2026.

Maggie Cunningham

Maggie Cunningham is the Content Board member representing the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland. Maggie has worked in the media sector for almost 40 years, 20 of which (1989 to 2009) were at a senior editorial level in the BBC. Her roles included Head of Radio, Scotland (2000 to 2004) and Joint Head of Programmes and Services, Scotland (2005 to 2009). Since 2009, she has worked as a leadership and executive coach. She chaired the Board of MG Alba for six years from July 2012. She is involved with the charity Sistema Scotland, having been a founding Board member until December 2019. She is an independent member of the Edinburgh Festivals’ Forum and chairs Kyle and Lochalsh Community Development Trust. She is a Trustee of An Comann Gaidhealach and a regular columnist for the Stornoway Gazette.

Maggie joined the Content Board on 1 October 2018. Her appointment runs until 30 September 2024.

Professor Ruth McElroy

Ruth McElroy is the Content Board member representing the interests and opinions of people living in Wales. Ruth is Professor of Creative Industries and Head of the School of Arts, Culture and Languages at Bangor University. She has more than twenty years' experience of teaching and researching media in UK Higher Education, with a focus on the screen sector, media policy, and cultural identities.

She is a consultant to Media Cymru (Strength in Places innovation consortium funded through UKRI) and Co-Director of Clwstwr Creadigol, one of nine UK Research and Development Creative Clusters. Ruth is Chair of the Board of Ffilm Cymru Wales, the film development agency for film in Wales. She is also Board Member of Gogledd Creadigol/Creative North which supports networking across north Wales' creative industries.

Ruth joined the Content Board on 1 March 2022. Her appointment runs until 1 March 2025.

Simon Bucks

Simon Bucks has had a long career at a senior level in broadcasting and digital media. He has experience as a journalist and as an editorial executive, having held roles at Sky News, London News Network and ITN.

Simon is a Fellow of the Society of Editors and was previously a director and President of the Society. He is a Trustee and Hon Secretary of the Royal Television Society. Most recently, Simon was Chief Executive of BFBS, the not-for-profit organisation set up to entertain and inform Britain's Armed Forces around the world.

Simon joined the Content Board on 1 September 2023. His appointment runs until 31 August 2026.

Stephen Nuttall

Stephen Nuttall has more than thirty years’ experience working as a senior executive and a consultant in the sports, media and digital industries. Stephen’s previous positions include Senior Director at YouTube EMEA and Group Commercial Director at Sky.

Stephen has also been a board member of Team Sky (Sky’s professional cycling team), Freeview, and the National Geographic Channel.

Stephen has an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, a degree in Applied Physics from the University of Nottingham and is the Deputy Chair and Vice President for Engagement at the British Science Association.

Stephen joined the Content Board on 10 December 2018. His appointment runs until 9 December 2024.

Alison Marsden

Alison joined Ofcom in 2007. She is currently Director of Standards and Audience Protection. She leads a team with responsibility for setting and enforcing content standards for television, radio and on-demand services, including the handling and assessment of complaints from viewers and listeners. She also has responsibility for the team who undertake Ofcom's work on TV, radio, on demand and online advertising.

Alison joined Ofcom as a broadcasting standards specialist and has also overseen Ofcom's broadcast licensing function. Before joining Ofcom, Alison worked in television production at the BBC from 1997 to 2003 producing and directing specialist factual and factual programmes, and later for various independent production companies.

Peter Horrocks

Peter is an experienced leader in the fields of media, higher education and economic development. At the BBC he was Editor of Panorama, Newsnight and Elections from 1992 to 2001. His leadership roles included Head of Current Affairs, Head of TV News and Head of the Multimedia Newsroom. He was Director of the BBC World Service from 2009 to 2014.

He was a member of the BBC Commercial Board and of the BBC Direction Group from 2011 to 2014. He won BAFTA awards as editor of Newsnight and as executive producer of the documentary series The Power of Nightmares. Peter was Vice Chancellor of the Open University from 2015 to 2018. In 2015 he received a CBE for Services to Broadcasting. He is Chair of Learna Ltd, a medical education business.

Peter joined the Content Board on 1 November 2020. His appointment runs until 31 October 2026.

Dekan Apajee

Dekan Apajee is the Content Board member representing the interests and opinions of people living in England. Dekan graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering yet decided to follow his passion for journalism and joined the BBC in 2002. He worked his way up through the BBC, starting as a researcher and progressing to a broadcast journalist and producer working for several departments including BBC London, BBC News Channel and BBC Comedy. He produced a variety of unique community focused digital content ahead of the London 2012 Games before leaving the corporation in 2012 and starting his own training and production company.

Dekan, a qualified professional leadership coach and passionate advocate for community engagement, founded Allsortz Open Mic (2011-2017), a Community Interest Company aimed at nurturing emerging artists. Serving on the non-executive board for Big Ideas C.I.C, he offers strategic insights. His tenure at the Youth Media Agency (2012-2015) and the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation (2012-2016) underscores his commitment to supporting start-up media ventures and cultural programming. Currently, he leads the Media Department at the University of East London, with a keen interest in news, digital production, Gen AI, and higher education.

Dekan joined the Content Board on 1 November 2020. His appointment runs until 31 October 2025.

Kim Shillinglaw

Kim Shillinglaw has 30 years experience in Media, as Controller of BBC2 and BBC4, running commercial businesses for EndemolShine, and in multiple Commissioning roles. She is a Non-Exec Director of several companies, and of Natural England, and a Trustee at tech foundation Raspberry Pi.

At EndemolShine, Kim led commercial companies from loss to profit ahead of a successful trade sale. At BBC2 and BBC4 she contemporised channels with popular shows such as The Real Marigold Hotel, Inside The Factory, Muslims Like Us and Britain’s first transgender sitcom Boy Meets Girl. She brought in Women’s Football, the first female presenter of QI and first non-white presenter of the Christmas Lectures. She grew domestic brands like Stargazing Live and Springwatch, and international blockbusters like Frozen Planet, Africa, Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II. She devised the BBC’s Year of Science and largest outreach campaign, Make It Digital. Previously in Children’s Commissioning she created the multi-award winning Horrible Histories.

Kim has chaired NESTA’s Creative Economy Board, the BBC’s Commercial Income Taskforce and Factual Board and advised the Science Museum, DCMS and BEIS. She chairs Discovery Decade, an RnD research project.

Kim joined the Content Board on 1 November 2020. Her appointment runs until 31 October 2026.

Maria McCann

Maria McCann is the Content Board member representing the interests and opinions of people living in Northern Ireland. Maria has over 40 years’ experience in the communications industry and is the founder of McCann Public Relations, a chambers practice specialising in Reputation and Crisis communications with expertise in digital platforms.

A former print and broadcast journalist working across the local, national, and international media scene, Maria was among the early pioneers in the independent television production sector. Previous Board positions have included Northern Ireland Screen, Research Ethics Committee NI, and Oxfam Ireland. Maria has a master's in law and Medical Ethics from Keele University and is the current Vice Chair of the Clanmil Housing Association.

Maria joined the Content Board on 21 November 2022. Her appointment runs until 20 November 2025.

Cristina Nicolotti Squires

Cristina joined Ofcom in January 2024 and is Group Director for Broadcast and Media, leading Ofcom's work to support a healthy and vibrant broadcasting sector which serves all UK TV, radio and video on demand services in an ever changing and fast-moving landscape.

Cristina joined Ofcom after 35 years as a journalist with a deep background in the commercial sector. She came to Ofcom from Sky where she was Director of Content at Sky News and responsible for the output across TV, online, radio/podcasts and documentaries. Before that she was at ITN for 22 years in a number of roles including stints as a field producer on locations around the world, programme editor of ITV’s News At Ten flagship programme and Editor of 5 News on Channel 5. Her proudest career moment was winning the RTS Award for News Programme of the Year in 2010, not just for the award – but for the judges’ citation which declared it the programme that “got Britain”. That deep connection with audiences is what has led her to Ofcom where she is passionate about ensuring we safeguard all audiences across the whole of the UK.

Minutes of the 185th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 21 November 2023 (PDF File, 194 KB)
Published 25 June 2024

Minutes of the 184th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 3 October 2023 (PDF File, 169.2 KB)
Published 18 December 2023

Minutes of the 183rd meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 4 July 2023 (PDF File, 187.9 KB)
Published 18 December 2023

Minutes of the 182nd meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 2 May 2023 (PDF File, 163.4 KB)
Published 30 August 2023

Minutes of the 181st meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 4 April 2023 (PDF File, 205.1 KB)
Published 30 August 2023

Minutes of the 180th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 24 January 2023 (PDF File, 215.5 KB)
Published 30 August 2023

Minutes of the 179th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 22 November 2022 (PDF File, 213.4 KB)
Published 13 April 2023

Minutes of the 178th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 20 September 2022 (PDF File, 211.0 KB)
Published 13 April 2023

Minutes of the 177th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 5 July 2022 (PDF File, 189.1 KB)
Published 17 March 2023

Minutes of the 176th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 3 May 2022 (PDF File, 182.4 KB)
Published 17 March 2023

Minutes of the 175th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 15 March 2022 (PDF File, 163.1 KB)
Published 19 July 2022

Minutes of the 174th meeting of the Ofcom Content Board, held on 25 January 2022 (PDF File, 184.7 KB)
Published 19 July 2022