The instincts of the channel’s editorial and legal and compliance teams has never been to sanitise and to censor but to find the appropriate context in which to give voice to actions and viewpoints that might be thought of as unacceptable elsewhere. While they have always worked in close adherence to the regulatory codes, these have – on occasion – been tested to the limit. This philosophy has consistently placed Channel 4 in the court of public opinion and, from time to time, in real life courts of law. The channel has fought some landmark legal battles over freedom of speech, not least the infamous Damned In The USA
trial in Mississippi. These hard-won victories are amongst the foundation stones of the more liberal regime that television enjoys today.
In This Chapter
- Introduction
- Free Speech in the USA by Paul Yule
- The Autopsy by Gunther Von Hagens
- Being Pamela by Pamela Edwards
- Gallery
Chapter Gallery
