Ofcom is bowing to pressure exerted upon them by established media outlets, according to Nigel Farage.
The GB News presenter hit out at the media regulator over its ruling that various shows on the People’s Channel broke broadcasting rules on due impartiality.
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The ex-UKIP leader said Ofcom’s ruling is reflective of a media environment that is fearful of GB News’ surge in popularity.
“Is it any wonder that Ofcom are on our case?”, he asked.
Nigel Farage has blasted Ofcom's latest GB News ruling
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“Is it any wonder that Sky News have obsessed all day about GB News?
“We’re doing well. Ofcom are becoming overtly political. I think that’s because of the pressures that have been put upon them by the established media.
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“GB News is posing a threat to the other broadcasters, a challenge to British politics.
“When you’re there and you’re part of the status quo, the one thing that you do not want is a new boy coming along and challenging your position. That is exactly what we’re doing.
“You can see the growth of this channel over the last few months. You can see the increased influence that it’s having, and unsurprisingly, they don’t like it.
“Ofcom are responding to pressure. But what I do know is that GB News are going to fight like hell.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg in the Westminster studioGB NEWS
Ofcom has put GB News on notice
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Tory MPs Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies were deemed to have “acted as newsreaders” across five different episodes while being the lead presenter of their programmes on the People’s Channel.
The watchdog said: “We found that two episodes of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State Of The Nation, two episodes of Friday Morning With Esther And Phil, and one episode of Saturday Morning With Esther And Phil, broadcast during May and June 2023, failed to comply with Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code.”
Ofcom said that because the 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”.
It went on: “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.”
GB News, which has been targeted by a far-left advertising boycott since before it even launched, recently announced a membership scheme to allow viewers who want to support the channel to do so directly.
Ofcom has put GB News on notice that any repeated breaches of the same rules “may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction”.
