High Court quashes Ofcom rulings on two Jacob Rees-Mogg GB News shows

Ofcom’s decisions that GB News twice broke impartiality rules during shows hosted by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg when he was an MP have been quashed at the High Court.

The regulator previously found the channel to be in breach when Sir Jacob read out a breaking news bulletin about Donald Trump’s civil sexual assault trial during his Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State Of The Nation show in May 2023.

The former Tory frontbencher also spoke to a GB News journalist reporting live from Nottingham on June 13 2023 in another edition of his programme, asking about the fatal stabbings carried out by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham.

The segments were 53 seconds and three-and-a-half minutes-long respectively, and after an investigation concluded in March last year, Ofcom stated they had breached two of the rules in the broadcasting code.

Reporter

These rules state that news must be reported with due accuracy and “presented with due impartiality”, while the second says: “No politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.”

GB News brought a legal challenge over the findings, telling the court in London at a hearing in January that the regulator had misinterpreted the code and Sir Jacob’s TV show was a current affairs programme.

Ofcom defended the challenge, with its lawyers telling the court that a newsreader is defined as someone who “reads content that is news”, and the code must apply to “news in any form”.

In a judgment on Friday, Mrs Justice Collins Rice said the regulator’s decisions were “vitiated by error of law” and that Ofcom “conflated a news programme and a current affairs programme”.

Quashed

She continued: “A programme cannot be a news programme and a current affairs programme at the same time.

“The statutory scheme deals with them differently.

“Blending the two as a response to such perceived blending by broadcasters is not a solution within the current scope of the statutory scheme.”

In her 29-page ruling, the judge quashed the two decisions and sent them back to the regulator to be reconsidered.

She added: “It remains open to Ofcom, in law, to pursue investigations into either or both broadcasts as a potential breach.”

Following the ruling, an Ofcom spokesperson said: “We accept the court’s guidance on this important aspect of due impartiality in broadcast news and the clarity set out in its judgment.

“We will now review and consult on proposed changes to the broadcasting code to restrict politicians from presenting news in any type of programme to ensure this is clear for all broadcasters.”

Sir Jacob, who lost the constituency of North East Somerset to Labour by more than 5,000 votes in the last general election, had been business secretary, Brexit minister and leader of the House of Commons under the Conservative government.