Ofcom has fined GB News £100,000 for “breaking due impartiality rules” following an interview with Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
The media watchdog had been investigating the interview with the former prime minister, aired in February as a programme titled ‘People’s Forum: The Prime Minister‘, and announced in May that it was considering imposing a financial penalty on the broadcaster.
Ofcom said of the live Q&A event then: “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.”
In an update published on Thursday, the regulator said its earlier investigation had found that “an appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints was not presented and given due weight”, adding: “nor was due impartiality preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes.”
It continued: “As a result, we concluded that the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK General Election, in breach of Rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code.
“Given the seriousness and repeated nature of this breach, Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of £100,000 on GB News Limited. We have also directed GB News to broadcast a statement of our findings against it, on a date and in a form determined by us.
“GB News is challenging our original breach decision in this case by judicial review, which we are defending. Ofcom will not enforce this sanction decision until those proceedings are concluded. ”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.