20-05-2024, 12:40 PM
(20-05-2024, 11:24 AM)Keith Wrote: Looks like the channel is in the naughty step again...
Ofcom considering sanction against GB News
Ofcom has said it is starting the process of considering a statutory sanction against GB News after the channel was found to have broken due impartiality rules.
Article: www.bbc.co.uk
I seem to recall at the time GB News stated the offer was open to Labour to have a people's forum edition. This was presumably the channel's get out clause, and why Ofcom stated they had "no issue with this programme's editorial format in principle".
I read the statement as more a criticism (which will hopefully now lead to a significant sanction given the repeated nature of these breaches) around not presenting the alternative case at set points. I can think, for example, of plenty of Leaders' Question type events but the presenter always put the alternative case and challenges, where appropriate, views.
My recollection of this incident was that it was more an introduction from Steve Dixon who then left Rishi for an hour with the audience and only intervened to keep the conversation on the tracks when it was interrupted by an animated audience member.
From a presentational perspective, this is hardly a good moment. In the lead up to GE coverage, the lesser of Ofcom's sanctions would seemingly be an on-air summary of the case and rebuke (all the way through to suspending or withdrawing their license), all of which hardly fills one with confidence in their coverage; interesting to see how they handle it.