GB News Broke Impartiality Rules on Shows With Politicians as Presenters, U.K. Media Regulator Finds
variety.comNaman Ramachandran U.K. media regulator Ofcom has found that five programs on the GB News channel featuring politicians as news presenters broke broadcasting due impartiality rules.
The investigation, which was launched last year, concluded that two episodes of “Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State of the Nation,” hosted by the titular politician; two episodes of “Friday Morning With Esther and Phil,” featuring Esther McVey and Philip Davies; and one episode of “Saturday Morning With Esther and Phil,” broadcast during May and June 2023, failed to comply with Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code.
All three politicians are members of parliament representing the ruling Conservative party. “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,” Ofcom said. “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.
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