GB News Slapped With Massive Fine After Breaking Ofcom Guidelines With Rishi Sunak Broadcast
GB News is being forced to pay £100,000 after breaking Ofcom guidelines with a broadcast featuring former prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
Back in February, the divisive news platform aired what was billed as a “people’s forum” with Sunak, in which the then-PM responded to questions from undecided voters in County Durham.
The much-derided live broadcast sparked hundreds of complaints to Ofcom, who ruled in May that GB News had broken its rules around impartiality by not incorporating a more “wide range of significant views” into what was technically a news broadcast.
On Thursday morning, it was announced that Ofcom had been fined £100K due to this breach, which chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos has described as a “direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom”.
As reported by Sky News, he added: “We believe these sanctions are unnecessary, unfair and unlawful.”
GB News is contesting this fine, and will not be made to pay until the end of these proceedings.
GB News broke broadcasting rules with People’s Forum: The Prime Minister.
— Ofcom (@Ofcom) May 20, 2024
We found GB News failed to preserve due impartiality in this case - a serious and repeated breach of our rules.
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This is far from the first time that GB News has landed itself in hot water with the TV watchdog, though.
Last year, it sparked an investigation following a live broadcast in which Laurence Fox launched into a sexist tirade against a female journalist during an appearance on Dan Wootton’s evening show.
Ofcom later ruled that this had breached its guidelines, as did a separate live show fronted by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, for which the station was later put “on notice”.