GB News has been given the green light to challenge a finding that it breached Ofcom’s rules in a Q&A programme with then-prime minister Rishi Sunak.
A High Court judge did refuse to temporarily block Ofcom from sanctioning the channel, but said the watchdog has already pledged not to publish its sanction until the case has been heard in full.
Ofcom said in May it was considering a statutory sanction against GB News for “serious and repeated” breaches of due impartiality rules under the Broadcasting Code.
Its potential sanctions include: telling a broadcaster not to repeat certain content, forcing it to air a correction or statement of the Ofcom findings, a financial penalty, and ultimately shortening, suspending or revoking a broadcast licence.
The sanctions process began after Ofcom decided that an hour-long live programme called The People’s Forum, in which Sunak answered audience questions, failed to meet impartiality rules because the then-PM was not sufficiently challenged.
GB News had intended for Labour’s views to be represented in a follow-up programme with Sir Keir Starmer but this had not been announced publicly at the time of the Sunak Q&A and it was then cancelled after Ofcom’s intervention.
The channel asked the High Court to order that Ofcom could not complete its “sanctions process” amid a legal challenge over the regulator’s finding about the Sunak programme.
Barristers for GB News argued that the publication of the sanction would cause “irreparable damage” to its reputation.
In a ruling on Friday Mr Justice Chamberlain said that the “likely impact” on the channel had been “overstated”.
He did however give the channel the green light to challenge the finding that it had breached Ofcom’s rules in the High Court, and added that Ofcom has already pledged not to publish its sanction until the case had been heard.
Giving judgment at a hearing in London, the judge said: “There is significant public interest in allowing Ofcom to complete its process and publish its decision.”
He continued that the benefits of pausing the sanctions process were “firmly outweighed” by allowing it to continue, which he said would “promote public confidence” and “reinforce the importance of complying with the code”.
But he said that GB News’s case was “reasonably arguable” and its arguments “raise grounds of considerable public importance” which “should be considered at a substantive hearing”.
Tom Hickman KC, for GB News, argued on Thursday that Ofcom had unlawfully found that the breach was “serious and repeated”, and that deciding on and publishing a sanction during the legal challenge would cause “irreparable damage”.
Anya Proops KC, for Ofcom, said in written submissions that the breach was the channel’s twelfth since March last year and that it was “not arguable” that it had “erred in law” through its decision.
She continued that the bid to stop Ofcom from publishing the sanction was based on an “inevitably speculative presumption” of what the sanction would be, and that claims the channel would suffer reputational harm “do not withstand scrutiny”.
A further hearing in the case is expected to be held at a later date.
GB News statement in response to court ruling on Ofcom battle
GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said in response to the ruling: “We are extremely pleased the Court has recognised the merits of our legal challenge and approved our case to proceed to the next stage.
“We have believed from the very start that the People’s Forum was an important piece of public interest programming, and that it complied with the Broadcasting Code. It was designed to allow members of the public to put their own questions directly to leading politicians. The programme with the Prime Minister was always intended to be part of a series of programmes, unfortunately the commencement by Ofcom of an investigation into the programme meant that future programmes were suspended and could not be broadcast.
“GB News choses to be regulated and we understand our obligations under the Code, but Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression and apply its rules fairly and lawfully. We believe some of its decisions in relation to GB News have been neither fair nor lawful and the court has recognised that there are serious arguable issues to be determined in this respect. As the People’s Channel we will continue to champion freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners, and for everyone in the United Kingdom.
“The Court has also made clear that any sanction which Ofcom may go on to impose on GB News would need to be expressed as subject to the outcome of GB News’ legal challenge.”
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