GB News has been ‘put on notice’ after being found to have breached Ofcom rules five times.
Launched in 2021, the controversial channel has found itself under the spotlight of the watchdog several times over the past few years.
It’s now been confirmed it has breached rules over the fact it uses mostly Tory politicians as news presenters.
Ofcom said GB News is now ‘on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction’ that could include a fine.
The shows found to have been in breach are 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, all broadcast during May and June 2023.
The episodes all broke the part of the Ofcom code that says, ‘news, in whatever form, must be… presented with due impartiality’ and ‘no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified’, as reported by Deadline.
A sixth incident in Jacob Rees Mogg’s State of the Nation was not pursued – also over due impartiality – and escaped punishment.
The shows in question are presented by Conservative MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Phillip Davies, and include topical discussions around the issues of the day.
Ofcom said it had taken ‘careful consideration of the facts in each case – including forensic analysis of the content and detailed representations from GB News’.
‘All five programmes in question contained a mix of news and current affairs content,’ it continued.
‘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.’
Ofcom added that ‘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.’
It then added that GB News had been ‘put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction’.
In a statement to the publication, a GB News spokesperson said there was ‘increasing uncertainty’ about the area of the Code it had breached.
It then ‘noted wider public discussion of the issue of politicians presenting programmes, which it said was often ill-informed’.
Metro.co.uk has contacted GB News and Ofcom for comment.
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