''Right to Reply'' (sometimes called ''R2R'') is a British television series shown on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

from 1982 until

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes. It featured reports, usually presented by a viewer, and interviews with the programme-makers concerned.

History

''Right to Reply'' was more serious and less humorous than its

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

equivalent '' Points of View''. Also, ''R2R'' discussed all channels' programmes, although, originally, only "Channel Four programme makers erecalled to account"; after a few years ''R2R'' started to discuss ITV shows as well, and soon also added BBC, and later

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

shows. ''Points of View'' only commented on BBC programmes, and continues to today. A notable feature of ''Right to Reply'' was the "video box", which gave viewers a third means of communicating with the programme in the 1980s, alongside letter or

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

. In the late 1990s (until 2001) the "Right to Reply 500", a group of 500 TV viewers, answered weekly online surveys about current television issues.

Cancellation

Channel 4's 2001 decision to end ''Right to Reply'', after a run of more than 18 years, was criticised by its fans, since nothing similar remains in its place. Some have said that the cancellation was representative of Channel 4's move into the mainstream and unwillingness to take risks like it did in the 1980s - said one viewer, "the Channel 4 that I view today has evolved into just another TV channel".

Reinstatement

On 24 May 2007,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

ordered the reinstatement of a Channel Four ''Right to Reply'' programme in its adjudication of the 2007 '' Celebrity Big Brother'' race row.Ofcom Content Sanctions Committee
/ref> ''The TV Show'' was shown once a month on Channel 4, but by the end of the second series, the show was cancelled due to poor ratings and reviews.

References

External links

BFI.org.uk: Overview of content in many ''Right to Reply'' episodes, 1982-2001Viewer Dom Robinson reviews his experience on ''R2R'', 2001
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Right To Reply Channel 4 talk shows 1980s British television talk shows 1990s British television talk shows 2000s British television talk shows 1982 British television series debuts 2001 British television series endings Television series about the media Criticism of journalism