Angelos Frangopoulos says Ofcom investigation is a part of a political marketing campaign towards free speech
The chief govt of GB Information has accused far-left activists of waging a “coordinated political campaign” towards the channel after Ofcom launched one other investigation into its programming.
Angelos Frangopoulos mentioned GB Information was dealing with an “orchestrated attack” by stress teams in search of to silence the broadcaster, which types itself as a challenger to mainstream media.
The controversy centres on an episode of Headliners, a newspaper evaluation present hosted by comic Josh Howie, which aired in January. The programme obtained over 1,200 complaints to Ofcom, a quantity that reportedly soared after the Good Regulation Mission, a marketing campaign group based by lawyer Jolyon Maugham, submitted a petition with greater than 70,000 signatures calling for regulatory motion.
The episode attracted outrage after Mr Howie appeared to recommend that paedophiles have been included throughout the LGBTQ+ group.
The Good Regulation Mission mentioned: “GB News is no stranger to spouting hatred and toxic lies. They take pride in it and pretend the rules don’t matter. It’s clearly illegal to stir up hatred by broadcasting a poisonous myth.”
Marketing campaign group Cease Funding Hate has additionally condemned the feedback as “toxic and dangerous” and is looking on Sky, which manages GB Information’s promoting, to chop ties with the channel.
If Ofcom treats every particular person criticism as separate, the investigation may set a brand new document for broadcasting complaints, surpassing the 58,000 grievances lodged over Piers Morgan’s controversial remarks about Meghan Markle on Good Morning Britain.
Mr Frangopoulos defended the channel, dismissing the backlash as a politically motivated try to stifle free speech.
“These groups shamelessly masquerade as being for the ‘good’, but their words and actions are filled with hate,” he mentioned.
“It’s time to call out this anti-democratic behaviour which includes our staff being falsely accused of homophobia – nothing could be further from the truth. We will not be silenced by these self-serving attacks and we will vigorously defend the channel and our presenters’ freedom of speech rights.”
Mr Howie additionally hit again, arguing that his feedback have been taken out of context and insisting they have been meant as satire. “It’s a comedy show,” he mentioned. “Three comedians make jokes as we review the next day’s newspapers.”
GB Information mentioned the remarks had been “misrepresented”.
The recent investigation follows a turbulent interval for GB Information, which has repeatedly clashed with Ofcom over alleged breaches of broadcasting rules.
Final week, the regulator withdrew three rulings associated to using politicians as presenters. It has additionally dropped an investigation right into a programme hosted by Nigel Farage, alongside 5 different reveals that includes politicians throughout completely different networks.
In an additional increase for GB Information, the channel just lately received a big Excessive Courtroom victory towards Ofcom. Judges overturned a ruling that it had damaged broadcasting guidelines by airing reveals offered by then-Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg .
Nevertheless, the community nonetheless faces a £100,000 wonderful from Ofcom over a programme that includes former prime minister Rishi Sunak, which the regulator mentioned breached impartiality guidelines. GB Information is interesting the penalty.
As tensions escalate between the channel and its critics, the most recent Ofcom inquiry is ready to reignite the talk over freedom of speech, media regulation, and the position of political activism in broadcasting oversight.
