It’s more bad news for the Tories, as even GB News viewers now back Labour over the Conservatives. A new JL Partners survey found Labour extended its lead over the Tories from 11 points to 21 points, with Labour on 46%, the Tories on 25%, and Reform UK on 18% of the vote. Looks like the Tories’ culture war isn’t hitting home they way they’d hoped. If Farage stands, the Reform vote will likely eat into the Tories’ vote share even more…
GB News has issued a press release after Ofcom said it would begin the 60-day process of deciding a sanction for its Sunak “People’s Forum” event. It’s feisty…
“GB News has begun the formal legal process of challenging recent Ofcom decisions which go against journalists’ and broadcasters’ rights to make their own editorial judgements in line with the law and which also go against Ofcom’s own rules.
Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression. Ofcom is also obliged to apply its rules fairly and lawfully. We believe that, for some time now, Ofcom has been operating in the exact opposite manner
We cannot allow freedom of expression and media freedom to be trampled on in this way. Freedom of the press is a civil right established by the British in the seventeenth century with the abolition of censorship and licensing of the printing press.
We refuse to stand by and allow this right to be threatened. As the People’s Channel we champion this freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners, for everyone in the United Kingdom.”
It remains to be seen exactly which legal route the underdog will use to take on the regulator…
Ofcom has now concluded its investigation into GB News’ “People’s Forum” and found that it broke their due impartiality rules. The regulator says:
- The audience was “not able to challenge the Prime Minister’s responses and the presenter did not do this to any meaningful extent“.
- Sunak “was able to set out future policies that his Government planned to implement, if re-elected” unopposed.
- He “criticised aspects of the Labour Party’s policies and performance” without challenge.
- GB News “include a reference in the programme to an agreed future programme in which an appropriately wide range of significant views on the major matter would be presented and given due weight.“
As a result Ofcom says “GB News’s approach to compliance” was “wholly insufficient” and as such rules 5.11 and 5.12, which deal with due impartiality requirements, were broken. Ofcom says it’s now looking into statutory sanctions and will make a decision within 60 days…
UPDATE: GB News hits back, at the ruling, pointing out that the “live programme gave an independently selected group of undecided voters the freedom to challenge the Prime Minister without interference… Among many other challenges, the Prime Minister was criticised over the ‘chronic underfunding’ of social care, the housing shortage, the likely failure of his government’s Rwanda plan, the betrayal of those injured by the Covid vaccine, and asked why the LGBT community should vote for him.”
Read GB News’ full response below:
New Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) figures for Q1 2024 make happy reading for GB News staff – they’ve secured the highest year-on-year growth in weekly reach of a whopping 43%. With a 6% quarterly boost it has now overtaken LBC News in London for the first time ever. It’s impressive to secure 455,000 listeners to the simulcast of your television station…
GB News is the top news radio station from 7 p.m. onwards. Meanwhile TalkTV, whose only linear platform remaining is radio, saw a decline of 10%. LBC News and Times Radio dropped off by 9%. GB News’ televised output is also getting a refresh with extensive new furniture and lighting getting installed in their Paddington headquarters from the 17th to 24th of June. GB gets a new sofa and the rest are rearranging deckchairs…
While Ofcom has come under scrutiny over its handling of news outlets, Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire has spoken out of her more hands-off approach to the media, telling PoliticsHome, “I’ve got no business telling the BBC how to run its news…something which the Tories seem to ignore all the time”. Though judging by her comments, some media is more equal than others…
She has no qualms with how the BBC runs its shop, though GB News is more concerning for her. Speaking of her unease about the station, she said: “It’s quite a challenge for me to see how we resolve having politicians of a particular party with entire programmes on a station that’s called news”. When it was pointed out to her that Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy hosts his own show on LBC however, her rationale for this being acceptable was that the show is “a means of communicating.” Double standards at its finest…
Ofcom has got into a spat with Today presenter Nick Robinson over the channel’s rulings on GB News. Robinson complained this morning that Nigel Farage can present programmes on the channel along with Reform leader Tice and Lee Anderson MP. When someone pointed out that David Lammy, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has a show on LBC, Robinson said “he’ll be a candidate so not permitted to present during an election campaign“. Which also applies to Anderson – D’oh!
So, @Nigel_Farage – one of the founders & owners of @reformparty_uk – can present an “impartial” programme on a TV “news” channel during the general election according to the broadcasting regulator @ofcom. The leader of the party @TiceRichard & its only MP @LeeAndersonMP_ can… https://t.co/G210M6rTp3
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) April 24, 2024
Ofcom’s executive for broadcast regulation Cristina Nicolotti Squires has admitted anti-GB News fanatics are hell-bent on destroying the channel:
“There are some people who won’t be happy unless we shut GB News down tomorrow and that’s not the kind of country we live in. We’re not censors. Nick would be the first one to be cross if Ofcom told him how Today ought to be. We live in a country with editorial freedom and the right for broadcasters to decide how they make programmes. It’s up to them to make them impartial.”
Ofcom is yet to decide if Farage is counted as a politician, which would make his show very difficult to do according to the rules. Even ITV refers to him as an “ex-politician”…
