GB News has now been found to have breached the broadcasting code on 12 occasions
Five GB News programmes hosted by Tory politicians broke Ofcom rules, the media watchdog has found.
Following an investigation, GB News was found to have repeatedly breached impartiality rules by allowing Conservative MPs to serve as news presenters.
Ofcom said that under the Broadcasting Code, news must be presented with due impartiality and “a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification”. It said that programmes presented by Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies were in breach of the Broadcasting Code.
The media watchdog stated: “After careful consideration of the facts in each case – including forensic analysis of the content and detailed representations from GB News – we found that two episodes of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State of the Nation, two episodes of Friday Morning with Esther and Phil, and one episode of Saturday Morning with Esther and Phil, broadcast during May and June 2023, failed to comply with Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code.
“All five programmes in question contained a mix of news and current affairs content. We found that host politicians acted as newsreaders, news interviewers or news reporters in sequences which clearly constituted news – including reporting breaking news events – without exceptional justification. News was, therefore, not presented with due impartiality.”
It added: “Politicians have an inherently partial role in society and news content presented by them is likely to be viewed by audiences in light of that perceived bias.
“In our view, the use of politicians to present the news risks undermining the integrity and credibility of regulated broadcast news.”
GB News has now been found to have breached the broadcasting code on 12 occasions but has yet to face a formal sanction from Ofcom.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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