GB News can continue to use politicians as presenters, after the media regulator Ofcom concluded the British public does not want to ban the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson from hosting programmes on news channels.
Cristina Nicolotti Squires, the Ofcom executive responsible for broadcast regulation, said that while “many are instinctively uncomfortable” with politicians presenting current affairs programmes, there was “no clear consensus for an outright ban”.
Instead, the media regulator will now explicitly require that GB News ensures serving politicians do not adopt the style and mannerisms of an unbiased newsreader, interviewer, or reporter – such as reading out a list of headlines directly to the audience.
Ofcom also reiterated existing rules banning serving politicians from presenting programmes during an election – meaning GB News will have to fill large gaps in its schedule when Rishi Sunak finally goes to the country.
The media regulator has faced growing criticism over how it applies its rules to GB News and whether the channel is being treated more leniently than traditional broadcasters.
Last month GB News was found to have repeatedly breached impartiality rules by paying Conservative MPs hundreds of thousands of pounds to serve as news presenters and interview the prime minister, Sunak. But rather than impose sanctions on GB News, the regulator instead simply put the channel “on notice” and warned it against further breaches. GB News has broken broadcasting rules on 12 occasions in the last 18 months, with a further eight investigations in progress.
Andrew Neil, who helped found GB News before quitting soon after its launch, told the House of Lords on Tuesday he was amazed at the situation. “I am surprised that any regulator would allow politicians sitting in the Houses of Parliament to present political TV programmes … I just find that incredible and I think on these areas Ofcom needs to find a backbone and quick.”
For its part, GB News is relishing the fight with Ofcom and using it as an excuse to build its “anti-elite” brand. The channel, which last week told staff it would be cutting about 40 jobs in a first redundancy round, has repeatedly run criticism of the regulator on its output.
British broadcasting rules heavily restrict politicians’ ability to present news programming but allow serving MPs to host current affairs output. This approach was based around a more traditional BBC-style approach to broadcasting, whereas the likes of GB News and the radio station LBC mix and match news and current affairs within the same show.
As a result, Rees-Mogg cannot present a news bulletin on GB News but he can host a current affairs discussion about the same stories immediately afterwards. The problem is there is no clear legal definition of what counts as “news” and “current affairs”, leaving regulators struggling to define when the line was crossed.
Ofcom’s research published on Wednesday found audiences understand the difference in principle but can struggle to draw the line. Instead, viewers use visual cues to work out if they are watching highly regulated news programming, or less highly regulated current affairs discussions.
The greatest concern among the public was “about politicians leading interviews, especially if this involved another member of their political party”, according to a focus group conducted by researchers at Ipsos.
The public “felt personally well equipped to identify if a presenter might be trying to mislead them”. Some people suggested a cigarette-style health warning remained on screen whenever a politician was presenting.