A U.K. radio station that falsely reported the death of King Charles in May breached broadcast standards, according to the country’s media regulator Office of Communications (Ofcom).
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Ofcom said they received two complaints about the reports, which interrupted regular programming, People reported.
The false report, which took place on Radio Caroline during The Barry Marsh Show, made a statement claiming that according to “news media,” the monarch had died. After playing the national anthem, one of the death statements was repeated, followed by 16 minutes of silence, the Ofcom report states.
Regular programming resumed after the moment of silence, but it was 30 minutes before the mistake was acknowledged and listeners were assured the king was alive.
“I’ve just been informed that we’ve played in error some information a little earlier, I didn’t hear this myself, but it is incorrect, it’s a technical issue, and of course we apologize,” the show’s host said at the time.
Ofcom released a bulletin on August 10, saying the situation breached two Broadcasting Code rules.
“News, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality,” reads the first code.
The second code reads “Significant mistakes in news should normally be acknowledged and corrected on air quickly. Corrections should be appropriately scheduled.”
According to Radio Caroline, the show’s host was streaming remotely, but a staffer was performing maintenance on a studio computer at the time. The staffer found three files prepared for the death of King Charles.
Per the bulletin, the radio station “explained that these files are accompanied with ‘a set of strict instructions to presenters and managers’ to follow before being aired, but, out of curiosity, the member of staff played the files, which stopped the stream from the presenter’s remote location, and broadcast the files on air.”
When the staffer realized what was happening, they stopped playing the files and left the office. However, the radio show host was on a call at the time and was unaware of what happened. Once the host realized what happened, he contacted a station engineer who knew what was happening and was already investigating.
Radio Caroline “took the matter very seriously, and much activity was taking place during those 30 minutes leading up to the apology.” The staff acted “as soon as they could,” they told Ofcom.
The staffer who made the serious error has been “reprimanded,” and “apologized.” They also told Ofcom that the files now exist on an external hard drive, and staffers were “reminded of the relevant procedures.”