Ofcom has appointed six new members to its Content Board.
Ofcom's Content Board is a committee of the main Ofcom Board. It has advisory responsibility for a wide range of content issues, including the regulation of television, radio and video-on-demand quality and standards.
The Content Board provides senior editorial and content experience to Ofcom. Its membership draws on a wide range of expertise and experience from across the broadcasting, production, media and technology sectors.
All six new members have been appointed for a three-year term from 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2023.
Dekan Apajee
Dekan Apajee is a Senior Lecturer and Joint Course Leader at the University of East London where he specialises in sports journalism, broadcast and digital media.
Dekan joined the BBC as a researcher in 2002 before progressing to broadcast journalism and production, working for several departments including BBC London, BBC News Channel and BBC Comedy. He produced unique community-focused digital content ahead of the London 2012 Games, before leaving the corporation and starting his own training and production company, Allsortz Open Mic.
Dekan sat on the board of the Youth Media Agency from 2012 to 2015 and the programming committee for the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation from 2012 to 2016.
Rachel Coldicutt
Rachel Coldicutt is an expert on the social impact of new and emerging technologies, and director of research consultancy, Careful Industries.
Rachel was founding CEO of responsible technology think-tank, Doteveryone, where she led influential research and developed practical tools for responsible innovation. Before that, Rachel spent almost 20 years working at the cutting edge of new technology for companies including the BBC, Microsoft, BT, and Channel 4, and was a pioneer in the digital art world.
Rachel is an influential voice on the UK technology scene, and is an advisor, board member and trustee for a number of companies and charities. In 2019, Rachel was awarded an OBE for services for the digital society.
Anna-Sophie Harling
Anna-Sophie Harling is Managing Director for Europe at NewsGuard, an online service that rates and ranks news websites for reliability and transparency. Harling previously worked as a Business Development Manager for Lexoo, a technology start-up in London, and at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, an international law firm. She has previously worked at two German newspapers, Der Tagesspiegel and the Märkische Allgemeine.
Anna-Sophie graduated from Yale University, where she was a Yale Journalism Scholar.
Peter Horrocks
Peter Horrocks is an experienced leader in the fields of media, higher education and economic development. During his time at the BBC, he was Editor of Panorama, Newsnight and Elections. 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.
Peter was a member of the BBC Commercial Board and the BBC Direction Group. 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. He is Chair of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership.
In 2015 he received a CBE for Services to Broadcasting.
Tobin Ireland
Tobin Ireland has 25 years’ experience working as a senior executive in the digital media industry. He started his career at McKinsey & Company and served as the Commercial Director of BSkyB, Chief Marketing Officer of AOL Europe, and Global Director of Strategy and Business Development at Vodafone.
While at Vodafone, Tobin led the GSMA global initiatives on mobile advertising and consumer privacy. He is Special Industry Advisor to the World Health Organisation and the Mobile Marketing Association – both focused on the future of the mobile data ecosystem.
Kim Shillinglaw
Kim Shillinglaw has 30 years’ experience in the media industry. She was Director of Factual at production company EndemolShine, Controller of BBC2 and BBC4, and Head of Commissioning for Science and Natural History, among other roles. She is a Non-Executive Director of Natural England, a Trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation; and previously, of the innovation think tank, NESTA.
Kim led the BBC’s acclaimed Year of Science and instigated the corporation's largest outreach campaign, Make It Digital. Previously, Kim worked in Children’s Commissioning, creating the multi-award winning Horrible Histories. She Chaired the BBC’s Commercial Income Taskforce, the BBC’s Factual Genre Board and NESTA’s Creative Economy Board.
She has advised organisations from the Science Museum to the AHRC’s Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre. She has also sat on government panels for DCMS and BEIS, and committees including the Royal Society and Edinburgh TV Festival.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to establish and maintain a Content Board. The Content Board has a significant influence on decisions which relate to content matters and involve considering the interests of different parts of the UK.
- Content Board members are drawn from diverse backgrounds from across the UK. Four members are appointed to represent the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions.