Much faster action required on TV game shows - Parsley

10.10.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Apr 2007

Alliance North Down Councillor Ian James Parsley

Alliance North Down Councillor Ian James Parsley has called for faster action on the regulation of TV game shows - a move he first called for 18 months ago, before the recent series of scandals.

Cllr Parsley stated: "It was clear to me years ago that TV game shows were a grossly unfair way of raising money for channels. It has been the norm, for years, for such shows deliberately to present questions or puzzles with several possible answers in order to avoid giving out prizes. People are being blatantly conned out of their money, and it should have been stopped ages ago.

"It is no surprise that phone-in shows, such as reality shows and even children's programmes, are now being found to cheat the public out of money.

"I presented a clear-cut case publicly in late 2005 against a show which deliberately cheated participants out of money by disallowing logically correct answers to a puzzle. Why were all such channels not closed down right then? Why have we waited nearly two years for still more scandals before doing anything about it?

"This nonsense can go on no longer. I would urge the public to avoid participating in any TV phone-in shows of any kind to show their contempt for this kind of behaviour, and in the meantime for proper legislation and regulation to come into force."

ENDS