Six more investigations discontinued by Ofcom after GB News rulings quashed
Investigations had begun into former minister Jake Berry, ex-MEP Alex Phillips and former deputy Reform UK leader David Bull.
Six more investigations have been discontinued by media regulator Ofcom after the High Court quashed its impartiality rulings against GB News over politicians acting as newsreaders.
The media regulator said on Monday that reviews into episodes of programmes fronted by Reform UK founder Nigel Farage on GB News and others would not go ahead.
These also included investigations into episodes of various programmes with former minister Jake Berry, ex-MEP Alex Phillips and former deputy Reform UK leader David Bull on Talk, and Labour MP David Lammy on LBC.
Ofcom said last week that it “withdrew the three other breach decisions against GB News”, which included episodes of programmes on the channel fronted by husband and wife team Esther McVey, a Tory MP, and Philip Davies, who was an Conservative MP until the general election.
But Ofcom launched an investigation on Monday into GB News programme Headliners, which featured comments about the LGBT+ community.
Angelos Frangopoulos, the chief executive of GB News, welcomed the watchdog’s decision, and said he did “not believe that there was a breach of the rules” in the Headliners programme.
GB News took Ofcom to the High Court after it found that two programmes with Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, when he was an MP, violated rules that state news must be reported with due accuracy and “presented with due impartiality”, and that politicians cannot act as newsreaders except when “editorially justified”.
In February, High Court judge Mrs Justice Collins Rice said the regulator’s decisions were “vitiated by error of law” and that Ofcom “conflated a news programme and a current affairs programme” in its ruling about the two episodes of the State Of The Nation show from 2023.
Ofcom previously welcomed the ruling, and said it would “review and consult on proposed changes to the broadcasting code to restrict politicians from presenting news in any type of programme to ensure this is clear for all broadcasters”.
Mr Frangopoulos said: “Since the recent landmark High Court ruling finding that Ofcom acted unlawfully, a total of 11 cases against GB News and other UK broadcasters have now either been quashed, unwound or abandoned.
“Following the withdrawal of five breach decisions against GB News, now Ofcom has revealed that it is ‘not pursuing’ the case against the GB News programme, Farage and five others from other UK broadcasters – another vindication of GB News editorial decision making.”
He added that they will “vigorously defend the channel and our presenters’ freedom of speech rights”.
An episode of comedy programme Headliners on January 22 received more than 1,382 complaints to Ofcom after presenter Josh Howie talked about a sermon given by a US bishop, who advocated for LGBT+ inclusion.
On Monday, an Ofcom spokeswoman said: “We are investigating whether this programme broke our rule which requires that material which may cause offence must be justified by the context.”
The media regulator is investigating it for a breach of the broadcasting rule on offence.
Howie, who appeared to suggest that “full inclusion” would include paedophiles on the show, defended his comments saying on X that he is doing a “comedy show” with comedians from across the political spectrum.
Complainants objected “to comment made by the presenter in this programme which complainants considered associated the LGBTQ+ community with paedophiles”.
Ofcom said more complaints, a total of 71,851, were submitted from activist group the Good Law Project who started a petition online about the episode.
The watchdog announced last year it was investigating an episode of Mr Lammy’s LBC show and the Farage programme on GB News for “rules requiring news and current affairs to be presented with due impartiality, and preventing politicians from acting as news presenters”.
Mr Lammy, who was a presenter and on the Labour front bench before becoming Foreign Secretary after the general election, announced Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s resignation as DUP leader live on air on March 29 2024.
Mr Farage’s programme on GB News dates from January 17 2024, before he became leader of Reform UK again and an MP for the first time.
Other reviews looked at then Tory MP Mr Berry’s TalkTV programme through two investigations as it was broadcast online and via Local TV on December 12 2023, Reform UK supporter Ms Phillips’ show on May 22 2024, and Mr Bull standing in for journalist Mike Graham on July 19 2024 on Talk show Morning Glory.
