The UK’s media watchdog has launched four further investigations into GB News’s compliance with due impartiality rules.
Ofcom said it is looking at three of the broadcaster’s programmes—including an episode of Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg’s show “State Of The Nation”—in relation to its rule that politicians must not act as newsreaders, interviewers or reporters “unless exceptionally it is editorially justified.”
On June 13, Mr. Rees-Mogg’s show covered a stabbing incident in Nottingham which is being investigated, while Ofcom is also probing the Friday morning show from Esther McVey and Philip Davies, Conservative MPs for Tatton and Shipley respectively, on May 12 which included a discussion about a teenager who was being sentenced for terrorism offences.
“Saturday Morning With Esther And Philip”—which aired on May 13 this year—is also being examined, following an interview with Howard Cox, the Reform UK party’s candidate for the London mayoral election, who was speaking live from an anti-ultra low emission zone demonstration.
Small Boats
In a statement released on Tuesday, Ofcom said it is also investigating an episode of Laurence Fox on June 16, which was guest-presented by Martin Daubney and featured an interview with Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK.It included a discussion about immigration and asylum policy, particularly in relation to the issue of small boats crossing the English Channel.
This episode is being probed in relation to the broadcasting rule which requires that due impartiality “is preserved on matters of major political or industrial controversy or those relating to current public policy and that an appropriately wide range of significant views are included and given due weight,” the media watchdog said.
The investigations come months after Adam Baxter, director of broadcasting standards at Ofcom, said that the watchdog will be looking at GB News to see if the broadcaster is “behaving itself” following the channel breaching its broadcasting code with COVID-19 claims for the second time.
In July, Ofcom launched a new broadcast standards investigation into an episode of Mr. Rees-Mogg’s “State Of The Nation” show which addressed a court case involving Donald Trump, after it received 40 complaints objecting to the MP for North East Somerset acting as a newsreader.
Similarly in the same month, the media watchdog launched an investigation into GB News over a campaign which calls on the government to introduce laws to “protect the status of cash,” which under its rules excludes broadcasters from expressing views on “political and industrial controversy or current public policy.”
The Epoch Times has approached GB News for comment.
COVID-19 Complaints
In May, the broadcaster was sanctioned by the media regulator for the second time after ruling that an interview with Naomi Wolf on the “Mark Steyn” show breached broadcasting rules.An Ofcom investigation into the programme, which first aired on Oct. 4, 2022, ruled Ms Wolf’s “comments had the potential to impact viewers’ decisions about their health and were therefore potentially harmful.”
“GB News did not take adequate steps to protect viewers from this content, so we have found the channel in breach of the Broadcasting Code,” Ofcom said.
During the interview, Ms. Wolf made claims about the COVID-19 vaccine, including that its rollout amounted to “mass murder” and was comparable to the actions of “doctors in pre-Nazi Germany.”
Ofcom received 422 complaints that alleged these comments were “dangerous” and included “misinformation” that went “unopposed.”
“In light of this, we are requesting that GB News attends a meeting with Ofcom to discuss its approach to compliance,” it wrote.
The ruling came just months after the regulator sanctioned the broadcaster for presenting “a materially misleading interpretation of official data without sufficient challenge or counterweight” over an episode of Mr. Steyn’s show on April 21, 2022.
Mr. Steyn was a presenter at the channel, but he left in February amid a dispute over contract terms he claimed could have made him personally liable for Ofcom fines.
In its ruling, Ofcom said that the programme’s presentation of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data and the way it used the data to draw conclusions “materially misled the audience.”
It had received four complaints about comments made by the presenter that, the complainants said, drew “dangerous” and “fatally flawed conclusions” from UKHSA statistics.
Speaking to The Epoch Times in May, a GB News spokeswoman said via email that it accepted the ruling and would not be challenging it.
