The regulator says it is watching. It has said that before.

The story

MPs have called for London-based LasLas TV to be investigated after the station repeatedly praised Hamas and celebrated Hezbollah's role in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The station is reported to operate firmly within Iran's sphere of influence. Ofcom, the UK broadcasting regulator, has previously investigated the station and its output. Responding to the renewed calls, Ofcom said it would carefully consider any new evidence submitted, but has not announced a fresh investigation or sanction at this stage. The station continues to broadcast in the UK under its existing licence.

The reframe

Ofcom's statement is not false. It probably is carefully considering the evidence, in the sense that someone at the regulator will read whatever is submitted. What the statement does not do, and what the reporting does not indicate has happened at any point in this station's history, is describe an outcome: a suspension, a fine, a licence review with teeth, anything that changes what LasLas TV is actually permitted to broadcast tomorrow.

"We will carefully consider any new evidence available" is, on its face, a reasonable thing for a regulator to say while a process is ongoing. It becomes something else on repetition, when the same broadcaster has already been investigated before, continues broadcasting the same category of content, and the same form of words is available to describe the regulator's position at every stage of that continuation. At some point a phrase that describes an active process and a phrase that has simply replaced one become difficult to tell apart from the outside, and the only evidence available to distinguish them is what actually changes afterwards. So far, on the public record, nothing has.