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GB News programmes presented by Tory MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg broke impartiality rules, broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ruled.
In a ruling published this morning, they said they were putting the broadcaster “on notice” and would impose sanctions if the rules are broken again.
Ofcom investigated two of Rees-Mogg’s ‘State Of The Nation’ programme and three other programmes presented by his Conservative colleagues Esther McVey and Philip Davies.
They said the shows breached rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code on the use of politicians to present news and current affairs programmes.
The Ofcome ruling said: “All five programmes in question contained a mix of news and current affairs content.
“We found that host politicians acted as newsreaders, news interviewers or news reporters in sequences which clearly constituted news – including reporting breaking news events – without exceptional justification.
“News was, therefore, not presented with due impartiality. 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.”
The watchdog’s ruling went on: “Since opening these investigations, there has only been one further programme which has raised issues warranting investigation under these rules.
“We are clear, however, that GB News is put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction.”
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