In a stinging rebuke to GB News, broadcast regulator Ofcom has ruled that the station violated impartiality rules on five occasions during May 2023. GB News is refusing to accept Ofcom’s ruling, saying it’s a ‘chilling decision’. The station has accused Ofcom of rewriting the rules around free speech, media impartiality and consumer choice across the airwaves. Rather than show contrition for what were repeated breaches of well-established rules, GB News has opted for the now-standard hard Right approach of claiming that night is day and wet is dry. Boris Johnson, Steve Bannon and Donald Trump could do no better.
Three stalwarts of the far Right of the Conservative party are at the heart of this affair, which centres around the GB News practice of having serving members of parliament paid to appear as presenters and journalists on news programmes. The most famous of the trio is Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former cabinet minister, champion Brexiter and sitting MP for North East Somerset. The other two are husband and wife team Esther McVey MP and Philip Davies MP.
Eleven years of average earnings
Leaving aside for a moment the issue of whether it is right for elected parliamentarians to present news programmes, let’s just for a moment consider that MPs are already paid almost three times the average national wage. Last year, Rees-Mogg was paid £324,000 by GB News. Add that to his MPs salary and (leaving aside his private income from his vast personal wealth) this man is trousering a fortune. It would take the average British worker a minimum of at least eleven years to earn as much.
Returning to the matter of media impartiality, GB News loves a good double standard. Rees-Mogg was front and centre of the criticism of Gary Lineker when the football pundit criticised the language used by then Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Rees-Mogg argued that if the BBC were not funded by the taxpayer impartiality would not be an issue. In effect, he’s saying that in an entirely private sector broadcasting regime there would be no need for balance. We would have a media free-for-all. Impartiality would be a significant casualty; balance another. Truth would almost certainly be the most obvious loser, but the biggest loser would be liberal democracy.
The people with the money would entirely control the news agenda. It would not be long before they controlled the Arts and culture we would see on our screens. The Rees-Mogg road is a great danger to stability, equality and decency in British society. Impartiality for Rees-Mogg is a disposable inconvenience. We little people should really not bother our pretty little heads about standards in broadcasting. Leave all that to the chaps with the breeding and the wallets. We’ll take care of deciding what news you hear and how it is presented.
Not fanciful imaginings
Regular readers may recall that I recently wrote in Bylines Scotland about the ‘plot to kill the BBC.’ Rees-Mogg’s view that there is no need for public service broadcasting is evidence that what I wrote was not fanciful imaginings, but genuine impartial, balanced, truth.
And to demonstrate Bylines Scotland’s commitment to impartiality, let’s look in detail at what Ofcom said in its response to complaints about GB News.
Each programme complained about was hosted by Tory MPs. Ofcom said in its report that under the Broadcasting Code, news, in whatever form, must be presented with due impartiality. Additionally, a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification.
Ofcom found that 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, broadcast during May and June 2023, failed to comply with Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code.
The regulator went on to say: “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. We therefore considered it was necessary and proportionate to find a breach of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 in these circumstances.”
What sanctions or penalties have Ofcom levied on GB News? None. There is to be no fine or indeed any sanction of any kind. It’s going to keep an eye on GB News. If it’s naughty again it will consider what to do. Hopeless. Toothless. A nod to the BBC’s current Right wing management that impartiality is not as important as once it was.
Ending the gravy train
There’s a new parliament coming at some point in the next year. Maybe one of its first jobs should be to pass an Act requiring that these words are prominently displayed in the reception area of all TV and radio stations.
“The use of politicians to present the news risks undermining the integrity and credibility of regulated broadcast news.”
Let’s end the gravy train.
Actually, let’s go one step further.
“No elected politician in any UK parliament or assembly or any member of the House of Lords may present or act as a reporter on any news or current affairs programme available to UK audiences“.
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