B.B.C.NOT TO BE SUED
M.P.’s Demand Rejected (N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 25. Britain’s Attorney-General (Sir Elwyn Jones) has rejected a Parliamentary demand to sue the British Broadcasting Corporation for obscene libel over the use of a four-letter word in a television programme. Mr James Dempsey, a Labour M.P. from Scotland, suggested the move after an outcry over the use of the word by the theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan, during a televised discussion about censorship and the portrayal of sex in the theatre.
Mr Dempsey said people were subjected to proceedings for using the word before a ;ew people yet someone on the B B C. could use it before millions and not be charged The Attorney-General replied that the test was whether the alleged obscenity tended to deprave and corrupt its hearers.
“I do not think that the use of a single word in the course of discussion of censorship would be held to have that depraving tendency,” he said.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30918, 26 November 1965, Page 11
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160B.B.C.NOT TO BE SUED Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30918, 26 November 1965, Page 11
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