Conservative broadcaster GB News warned by government agency for having bias 'without exceptional justification'

A conservative broadcaster in the United Kingdom received an official government warning for not being impartial and having politicians appear on the network without on-screen opposition.

GB News was warned by the Office of Communications that some of their news shows were not unbiased enough. After an investigation that began in the summer of 2023, GB News was found to have violated Ofcom's regulatory guidelines surrounding impartiality in a total of five broadcasts.

Two episodes of "Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State of the Nation," two episodes of "Friday Morning with Esther and Phil," and one episode of "Saturday Morning with Esther and Phil" between May and June 2023 were the offending programs.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey, and Philip Davies are all Conservative Party members of parliament.

"We found that host politicians acted as newsreaders, news interviewers or news reporters in sequences which clearly constituted news — including reporting breaking news events — without exceptional justification. News was, therefore, not presented with due impartiality," the regulator said, according to Variety.

"Politicians have an inherently partial role in society and news content presented by them is likely to be viewed by audiences in light of that perceived bias. In our view, the use of politicians to present the news risks undermining the integrity and credibility of regulated broadcast news," the government agency added.

The U.K. regulator has rules surrounding fairness, impartiality, and bias; meaning the government decides whether or not a news broadcaster's presentation is fair enough.

According to Ofcom, news channels must have "due impartiality" in their broadcasts. Their definition of the term is vague as well:

"'Due' is an important qualification to the concept of impartiality. Impartiality itself means not favouring one side over another. 'Due' means adequate or appropriate to the subject and nature of the programme. So 'due impartiality' does not mean an equal division of time has to be given to every view, or that every argument and every facet of every argument has to be represented."

Ofcom declared that GB News was in violation of Rule 5.1, which states "news, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality."

The broadcaster was also found to be in violation of Rule 5.3, which states that "no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified. In that case, the political allegiance of that person must be made clear to the audience."

"GB News is put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction," the regulator added.

A GB News spokesperson said that they are "deeply concerned by the decisions Ofcom has made."

"Ofcom is obliged by law to promote free speech and media plurality, and to ensure that alternative voices are heard. Its latest decisions, in some cases a year after the program aired, contravene those duties," the spokesperson added.

"The issue here, is there has been countless times to which the BBC have indirectly broken these impartiality rules, yet Ofcom have been reluctant to investigate," journalist Lewis Brackpool told Blaze News.

"Whilst I don’t like the idea of a sitting member of parliament presenting a news show when their priority is to be serving their constituents, I feel as though the ability to present news and discuss ideas should be upheld. Many viewers who do not want to undermine speech and debate are tired of these nanny-state regulations and would simply like to make their own mind up," Brackpool added.

GB News has doubled down and said that they will remain committed to having serving politicians host programs on their channel.

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