The Ofcom regulatory decision over GB News and its ‘People’s Forum’ with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a breach of impartiality rules is bizarre as it is sinister. They are now threatening another fine or sanction. This looks now like an Ofcom campaign against GB News, not fair regulatory control.
Just 500 complaints were received by Ofcom about this show – a drop in the ocean comparatively. Who are these 500? How many are political activists? How many are supporters of other media that have a vested interest in bringing the whole channel down; and in silencing representation of a big slice of British opinion; one which they don’t respect or tolerate? 500 can be whipped up in minutes on social media. Do Ofcom know enough about those bringing these complaints I would ask – for they themselves need to demonstrate impartiality and fairness. They don’t appear to be doing an impartial job themselves.
I watched this show. Did I ever feel it was not impartial? No! I thought it was well done and actually, the audience had more freedom to ask questions than in many shows, such as BBC Question Time, which preselects questions and audience members are put in key positions best for TV cameras to find them.
I thought the format actually had Rishi Sunak in trouble at first. The audience was cold and unresponsive to begin with.
‘Ofcom is acting like a Communist state – its ruling on GB News is truly sinister,’ writes David Campbell BannermanGB News/PAYes, they warmed up with certain answers but this was no soft show ripping in bias. It was a real challenge and one Sunak had to take very seriously.
I would say too that GB News – with Nigel Farage as Reform President and Richard Tice as Chairman and other distinguished Brexit Party politicians as presenters are often very critical of the Conservatives and indeed have talked of destroying the party altogether! These are not a lineup of all Tories – Jacob is an exception.
My understanding was that GB News was going to do the same type of show with Sir Kier Starmer and others, and quite right too. But if other leaders don’t want to appear on a TV channel for ideological or ignorant reasons based on their bias towards that channel, then that is their folly and their choice. Were they being impartial or discriminatory towards GB News?
MORE AGENDA-SETTING OPINION:
GB News People's Forum with the Prime MinisterGB NewsOfcom is acting now like a Communist state would.
Have they been looking up Chinese censorship methods, because this looks like a slippery slope towards penalising a whole sector of thought as unacceptable because it doesn’t accord with their corporate world view; and because they want to impress a potential Labour Government?
Why is the BBC – whose editorial (if not content) is so often clearly biased: anti-Brexit; pro-immigration; anti-Trump; taking diversity issues to extremes – when they are so often in breach of impartiality standards, they cease to recognise it? Yet they constantly whinge openly about GB News as if they are deliberately doing it.
Our freedom of speech; freedom of expression; freedom of thought is all at risk here. GB News’s struggle is our struggle. We must do everything we can to back GB News up. Make a noise please! Thank you.
