06 March 2023 , 11:03
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GB News has broken Ofcom rules for the first time since the news channel launched in June 2021.
On Monday, Ofcom confirmed the regulatory body had found the Mark Steyn programme, which aired on GB News on April 21, 2022 in breach of broadcasting rules.
In a statement, Ofcom said: "We have been consistently clear that, under our rules, broadcasters are free to transmit programmes which may be considered controversial and challenging, or which question statistics or other evidence produced by governments or other official sources.
"It can clearly be in the public interest to do so. However, with this editorial freedom comes an obligation to ensure that, when portraying factual matters, audiences are not materially misled."
Ofcom found the Mark Steyn programme in breach of broadcasting rules"In this case, our investigation found that an episode of the Mark Steyn programme fell short of these standards – not because it exercised its editorial freedom to challenge mainstream narratives around Covid-19 vaccination – but because, in doing so, it presented a materially misleading interpretation of official data without sufficient challenge or counterweight, risking harm to viewers," the statement continued.
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Ofcom explained the programme "incorrectly claimed that official UKHSA data provided definitive evidence of a causal link between receiving a third Covid-19 vaccine and higher infection, hospitalisation and death rates" which was a problem because the way in which the data was being presented "did not take account of the significant differences in age or health of people in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups studied".
The broadcasting regulator stated that because the claims in question were broadcast as part of a factual programme on a news channel, this may have lead to GB News viewers making decisions about their health based on this information.
Mark Steyn breached Rule 2.2 of the Broadcasting code (GB News)The programme breached Rule 2.2 of the Broadcasting code.
Since March 2020, the broadcasting regulator has received over 26,000 complaints about TV and radio coverage relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the first breach of Ofcom rules recorded against GB News since it launched.
There have been 3,432 complaints received about GB News to date, representing 3% of all broadcast complaints made to us during this period. Of these 1,665 related to the Covid-19 pandemic.