The end of GB News under Labour?

Ofcom investigations



Two of Mark Steyn's features on the channel breached standards regarding misinformation about COVID-19.

Within the channel's first year Ofcom were prompted to launch five separate investigations into its broadcasts.[201] As of May 2023 more than 4,500 complaints about GB News programmes had been lodged with Ofcom since its launch.[202]



Ofcom received 373 complaints relating to a monologue made on the opening night's edition of Tonight Live with Dan Wootton in which Wootton argued against the government's extension of the COVID-19-related lockdowns in the UK.[203] Ofcom decided not to pursue any of the complaints, a spokesperson saying, "Our rules allow for rigorous debate around the response to coronavirus ... consistent with the right to free expression".[204]



Furthermore, Ofcom have publicly commented on and clarified rules on politicians presenting programmes following the influx of politicians to both TalkTV and GB News.[105]



As of October 2023 Ofcom have found GB News to have breached their licence on six separate occasions, five of those being considered as "significant", although the regulator did not impose any sanctions such as fines or a request for an on-air clarification.[202] 14 additional investigations are still pending.[14]



In November 2023, Ofcom chairman Michael Grade told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the regulator did not "want to be in the business of telling broadcasters, licensees, who they can employ, who they can't employ".[14]



In May 2024, following an Ofcom ruling that GB News had again broken broadcasting rules, the company rebuffed their ruling and launched legal action against the media regulator.[205]



Breaches of code

On 7 November 2022, Ofcom announced its first finding against GB News, concluding that the channel breached its radio licence in an episode of To The Point on 2 March 2022. Covering the Erdington by-election, GB News displayed a graphic listing all candidates as required by Rules 6.8 to 6.12 of the Code. However, the presenters did not finish reading aloud the whole list, instead advising listeners on its radio simulcast that it was available on social media. All the candidates' names were therefore not read out in full for the channel's audio simulcast as required by rule 6.10. Ofcom issued no sanction against the channel.[206]



On 6 March 2023, Ofcom announced that it had found the Mark Steyn programme, aired on 21 April 2022, in breach of broadcasting rules for a materially misleading interpretation of official data about COVID-19.[84] In February 2023, Steyn revealed on his website that his GB News programme had been cancelled and that the channel had made an offer which he 'had to refuse' because it would have ended his 'right to free speech on air'.[207][208]



On 9 May 2023, Ofcom found that Mark Steyn breached standards on 4 October 2022.[209] The investigation into Steyn's programme on 4 October 2022 related to comments by Naomi Wolf, a figure who has previously been banned from Twitter for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation.[201] No sanctions were imposed, but following their investigation Ofcom arranged a meeting with GB News "to discuss its approach to compliance".[202]



In April 2023, Ofcom launched an investigation regarding a potential breach of impartiality rules during a programme broadcast on 11 March that was hosted by two Conservative MPs, Esther McVey and Philip Davies, where they interviewed a fellow Conservative MP, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, about his then imminent Spring Budget.[210] The programme was confirmed by Ofcom to be in breach of their regulations five months later.[211]



Ofcom decided that the 16 June broadcast featuring Martin Daubney breached due impartiality rules when interviewing Richard Tice about immigration, but Ofcom did not impose any further sanctions.[212] In response, GB News acknowledged that the content was non-compliant and stated that "[our staff] will receive further training focused on the issues raised by this broadcast".[213]



In December 2023, Ofcom ruled that the channel had breached impartiality rules with an episode of The Live Desk broadcast on 7 July 2023, which promoted its branded campaign "Don't Kill Cash".[214]



On 18 March 2024, Ofcom ruled 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 which state a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification.[215]



On 14 February 2024, Ofcom released a statement on X (Formerly Twitter) that they had received a significant number of complaints about a controversial Peoples Forum involving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak which many viewers considered a clear breach of Ofcom's broadcasting code with a poor attempt to dupe the audience it was not a Party Political Broadcast just days before two by-elections.[216][217] On 20 May 2024, Ofcom's investigation into the incident concluded that GB News's failure to preserve due impartiality was "serious and – given its two previous breaches of these rules – repeated." Ofcom subsequently began the process of considering a statutory sanction against GB News.[218]

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_News#Ofcom_investigations