It’s now over a year since Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches: The Truth About Traveller Crime’ first aired. The programme promoted highly damaging tropes of Gypsy and Traveller communities.
Following its airing, the show received widespread criticism and a campaign by Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) saw just over 7000 people complain to Ofcom.
In response, Ofcom launched an investigation for potential breaches of content standards for television and radio. The investigation should have been completed within 50 days, but it is now one year since the show first aired and Ofcom has yet to announce an outcome.
According to the GATE HERTS report Hate: “As regular as rain”, after the airing of ‘The Truth About Traveller Crime’ there was a “noticeable uptick in hostile social media commenting on the communities” and a reported 45 cases of hate crime directed at the Travelling communities, in April alone.
