Ofcom's extraordinary decision to find GB News in breach of the Broadcasting Code for its People's Forum with the Prime Minister is chilling and tells you all you need to know about the TV regulator.
Ofcom is the epitome of the left leaning politically correct establishment media. Introduced by Tony Blair in 2003, there have been four Chief Executives in that time.
The first three - Stephen Carter, Ed Richards and Sharon White - all worked in the Blair or Brown governments (so much for their political impartiality) and the latest one - Melanie Dawes - is a career civil servant.
Their Content Board - responsible for regulating TV standards - is made up overwhelmingly of people from the establishment media and is packed with former BBC employees. In short, they despise everything and everyone that GB News gives a voice to.
Rishi Sunak attending the People's Forum GB NewsGiven they are the People's Channel, having a People's Forum to challenge the Prime Minister is precisely what GB News is all about - giving a voice to the people rather than left-wing BBC and Channel 4 interviewers who think it is all about them.
This was an audience of non-affiliated voters selected by a polling company, and they were given the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister of the day the questions they wanted to ask him, without interference from presenters and the channel.
GB News also made clear on the programme that they had asked the Labour Leader to do a programme with precisely the same format. How on earth is that not impartial?
In their ruling Ofcom said that GB News "was not able to include a reference in the programme to an agreed future programme in which an appropriately wide range of significant views... would be presented and given due weight".
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The audience of the People's Forum: The Prime MinisterGB NewsSo basically, because Sir Keir Starmer is frit and hasn't been prepared to put himself through the grilling Rishi Sunak subjected himself to, GB News has been found in breach of the broadcasting code and now faces a sanction. It is nonsense on stilts.
Interestingly when Newsnight had a debate about GB News, and all three contributors were anti-GB News - with two calling for GB News to be closed down - what did Ofcom do when they received a complaint?
Did they find the BBC in breach of the Broadcasting Code? Did they threaten them with a sanction for such a blatant breaking of the rules? Nope. They didn't do a dicky bird. They allowed the BBC to mark their own homework.
In my 10 years on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, it was obvious that Ofcom was there to pursue a Blairite policy agenda. These days it is not even trying to hide it.
Blinded by its groupthink hatred of GB News' grassroots challenge to its beloved establishment media, Ofcom has lost the plot.
This latest dodgy dossier from a creation of Tony Blair should mark the beginning of the end for Ofcom.
