GB News says it has taken legal action against Britain’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) after the regulator found one of the channel’s recent programs violated certain impartiality rules.
The nature of the legal move was not explicitly announced by GB News, but it is believed to be an appeal of an unfavorable decision recently issued by Ofcom that found a February forum with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not give equal weight to opposing viewpoints, as required under the country’s media regulations.
“GB News has begun the formal legal process of challenging recent Ofcom decisions which go against journalists’ and broadcasters’ rights to make their own editorial judgements in line with the law and which also go against Ofcom’s own rules,” a spokesperson for the channel said on Friday. “Ofcom is obliged by law to uphold freedom of expression. Ofcom is also obliged to apply its rules fairly and lawfully. We believe that, for some time now, Ofcom has been operating in the exact opposite manner.”
Earlier this week, Ofcom said it was acting on more than 500 complaints that flowed in after the Sunak town hall in February. The regulator said the program itself was not problematic, but the channel was derelict in providing equal opportunity to opposing viewpoints, which did violate its impartiality rule.
Ofcom said it was considering a sanction against Ofcom, which could range from a formal warning to a fine or, in an extreme circumstance, a revocation of the channel’s license to broadcast in Britain.
The regulator has found GB News programs to be problematic in the past, including a segment in which hosts urged viewers to sign a petition that would preserve paper currency as legal tender in the country.
Ofcom also says GB News’ decision to hire sitting politicians to serve as on-air hosts was troubling, as the country’s media regulations forbid politicians from serving in the role as news presenters.
“Freedom of the press is a civil right established by the British in the seventeenth century with the abolition of censorship and licensing of the printing press,” GB News said on Friday. “We refuse to stand by and allow this right to be threatened. As the ‘People’s Channel,’ we champion this freedom — for our viewers, for our listeners, for everyone in the United Kingdom.”
On Friday, a spokesperson for Ofcom said the regulator stood by its decision.
