Ofcom has fined GB News £100,000 after it ruled the broadcaster gave then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a “mostly uncontested platform” to promote his policies ahead of the election.
However the regulator will not enforce the payment of the financial penalty while it awaits the result of a judicial review launched by GB News against its original decision that the programme breached due impartiality rules. Ofcom is defending the case.
Ofcom said it had decided to impose the fine due to “seriousness and repeated” breaches of due impartiality rules by GB News.
It has also ordered GB News to broadcast a statement of its findings, on a date and in a form decided by the regulator.
GB News response to fine: ‘Unnecessary, unfair and unlawful’
GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos called the sanction a “direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom.
“We believe these sanctions are unnecessary, unfair and unlawful.
“The High Court has already granted GB News permission to bring a judicial review to challenge Ofcom’s decision that the programme was in breach of due impartiality requirements.
“The sanction proposed by Ofcom is therefore still subject to that legal challenge. The plan to sanction GB News flies in the face of Ofcom’s duty to act fairly, lawfully and proportionately to safeguard free speech, particularly political speech and on matters of public interest.
“We have believed from the very start the People’s Forum was an important piece of public interest programming, and that appropriate steps were taken to ensure due impartiality and compliance with the Broadcasting Code.
“It was designed to allow members of the public to put their own questions directly to leading politicians.
“GB News chooses to be regulated and we understand our obligations under the Code.
“But, equally, Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression and apply its rules fairly and lawfully.
“At the People’s Channel we will continue to fearlessly champion freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners, and for everyone in the United Kingdom. As we have all seen, this is needed more than ever.”
The People’s Forum: The Prime Minister was an hour-long live audience Q&A with Sunak that aired on 12 February. Ofcom found that an “appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints was not presented and given due weight… nor was due impartiality preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes”.
GB News has said the programme was intended to be the first in a series and that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had already been invited to appear, but this never happened after Ofcom launched its investigation.
The People’s Forum was the twelfth time Ofcom ruled GB News had breached the Broadcasting Code since March 2023.
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