GB News faces a financial penalty for the first time after Ofcom found that its “People’s Forum” with Rishi Sunak was a serious breach of impartiality rules . The watchdog said of the event, broadcast in February: “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.” The threat of sanctions arrives weeks after the broadcast regulator concluded that the channel broke rules banning politicians from acting as newsreaders on five occasions involving the MPs Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies.
Ofcom said it received 547 complaints about the live, hour-long current affairs programme with the Prime Minister. It featured Mr Sunak in a question-and-answer session with a studio audience about the Government’s policies and performance, presented in the context of the forthcoming UK general election . “This met the definition of a major matter under our rules, so the heightened special impartiality requirements applied,” Ofcom said.
Ofcom found that “it was incumbent on GB News, 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.” Ofcom said: “The Prime Minister was able to set out future policies that his Government planned to implement, if re-elected in the forthcoming UK general election. Neither the a.