GB News: Audience member berates Sunak over Covid vaccine harm
Nigel Farage hit out at Ofcom after it announced it is considering a sanction against GB News over a programme featuring Rishi Sunak.
The media watchdog ruled that the show, which saw the PM take questions from the audience during a live hour-long programme called People's Forum: The Prime Minister, broke broadcasting due impartiality rules.
Ofcom said it was "starting the process for consideration of a statutory sanction against GB News".
But Mr Farage, who is a GB News presenter, wrote on X: "This is ridiculous.
"GB News used a professional company to get a neutral audience to ask Rishi Sunak questions.
Don't miss... GB News faces sanction over Ofcom rule break after 'serious and repeated' breach
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"You can listen to Radio 4’s 'Any Questions?’ on a Friday and hear a one-sided audience with an unbalanced panel."
Ofcom said the episode received a total of 547 complaints and was "presented in the context of the forthcoming UK general election".
It said there was "no issue with this programme's editorial format in principle".
Ofcom stated: "Given this represents a serious and repeated breach of these rules, we are now starting the process for consideration of a statutory sanction against GB News."
This is ridiculous. GB News used a professional company to get a neutral audience to ask Rishi Sunak questions.
You can listen to Radio 4’s 'Any Questions?’ on a Friday and hear a one-sided audience with an unbalanced panel. https://t.co/jSzXDwEXgD
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 20, 2024
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The media watchdog also said: "We recognised that this programme would focus mainly on the Conservative Party's policies and track record on a number of specific issues, meaning that Conservative viewpoints would be prevalent.
"We are clear that this, in and of itself, did not mean the programme could not comply with due impartiality rules under the code.
"It was incumbent on GB News, however, given the major matters under discussion, to ensure that an appropriately wide range of significant views was given due weight in the programme or in other clearly linked and timely programmes."
But GB News accused the watchdog of trying to "silence" the channel by not allowing the "public to question politicians directly".
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In a statement, GB News said: "Ofcom's finding against GB News today 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."
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GB News also called itself the "people's channel" and the "independently selected group of undecided voters" questioned Mr Sunak "robustly, intelligently, and freely".
The channel also said that the Ofcom ruling was a "watershed moment that should terrify anyone who believes, as we do, that the media's role is to give a voice to the people of the United Kingdom".
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