GB News says it has launched a legal challenge against Ofcom’s recent decision to sanction the broadcaster, accusing the media regulator of “trampling” on free speech.
It comes after an Ofcom investigation passed its decision on Monday, finding that GB News has once again broken impartiality rules.
The media regulator called the beach a “serious matter” after outlining a string of repeated offences by GB News and is considering sanctioning the self-described “people’s channel.”
A statement from the broadcaster on Wednesday said: “GB News has begun the formal legal process of challenging recent Ofcom decisions which go against journalists’ and broadcasters’ rights to make their own editorial judgements in line with the law and which also go against Ofcom’s own rules.”
“Freedom of the press is a civil right established by the British in the seventeenth century with the abolition of censorship and licensing of the printing press.
“We cannot allow freedom of expression and media freedom to be trampled on in this way. We refuse to stand by and allow this right to be threatened. As the people’s channel we champion this freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners, for everyone in the United Kingdom,” GB News said.
The basis of the legal claim is that Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression—and, is therefore “obliged to apply its rules fairly and lawfully.”
When asked about what legal avenue they are pursuing, GB News told The Epoch Times they “won’t be elaborating further at the moment.”
The communications regulator received 547 complaints in February 2024 after an hour-long episode of the “People’s Forum” featuring Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in an open Q&A with members of a live audience.
Ofcom said, “GB News failed to preserve due impartiality” and is in breach of the Broadcasting Code as it failed to take additional steps to mitigate compliance risks.
“We found that an appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints were not presented and given due weight in the People’s Forum: The Prime Minister, nor was due impartiality preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes. As a result, we consider that the Prime Minister had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his government in a period preceding a UK General Election,” Ofcom said.
The start-up news company has maintained its program was in line with the Broadcasting Code and claimed that freedom of speech and freedom of the press is under threat from the media watchdog.
A GB News spokesman said on Monday: “Ofcom’s finding against GB News ... is an alarming development in its attempt to silence us by standing in the way of a forum that allows the public to question politicians directly.
“The regulator’s threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own Prime Minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital.
“We cannot fathom how Ofcom can claim this programme lacked the ‘appropriately wide range of significant views’ required to uphold due impartiality. It did not.”
Ofcom aims to complete its statutory sanction consideration within 60 working days and in its powers has the right to impose financial penalties, shorten or suspend licences, and in extreme situations revoke a licence.
This is the twelfth time GB News has been found to breach Ofcom’s rules since the company launched in 2021.
An Ofcom spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email that it stands by its decision.
