{"id":416600,"date":"2026-02-09T18:45:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416600\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:45:47","slug":"ofcom-under-fire-after-refusing-to-investigate-misleading-gb-news-trump-interview-ofcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416600\/","title":{"rendered":"Ofcom under fire after refusing to investigate \u2018misleading\u2019 GB News Trump interview | Ofcom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s media regulator Ofcom has been accused of abandoning \u201cany pretence\u201d of guarding against misleading and biased television coverage, after it refused to investigate a series of complaints about a GB News interview with Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the interview with the rightwing network<\/a>, broadcast last November, the US president falsely claimed human-induced climate change was \u201ca hoax\u201d and that London had no-go areas for police. He said parts of the capital had \u201csharia law\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also made other claims about law and order and immigration that critics said were either left unchallenged or endorsed by interviewer Bev Turner, the host of GB News\u2019s US-based nightly show.<\/p>\n

However, Ofcom<\/a> said it had decided not to investigate 32 complaints that claimed the interview was either misleading or partial in its presentation.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson conceded that Trump\u2019s views \u201cwere not challenged during the interview itself\u201d, but said \u201calternative perspectives\u201d were set out in a surrounding panel discussion, which challenged his opinions.<\/p>\n

Chris Banatvala, Ofcom\u2019s founding director of standards , who drafted its code and investigation procedures, said he was \u201castounded\u201d by Ofcom\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were ever a case that merited investigation for the broadcast of potentially misleading material and a failure to meet due impartiality requirements, this was it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump was allowed to make a number of unfounded allegations without any challenge whatsoever, with the potential to mislead viewers, undermining the most basic standards expected of broadcast journalism and regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a test case for how Ofcom regulates broadcasters on due impartiality. It has failed that test. The decision raises serious questions about whether Ofcom is willing to enforce its own standards as set out in legislation. It now appears that Ofcom has abandoned any pretence that meaningful regulation of broadcast content is still being maintained.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes amid concerns within the media world that Ofcom has shied away from tackling potentially politically divisive accusations of bias and misleading in recent years.<\/p>\n

Another complainant, Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the LSE\u2019s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, accused Ofcom of a \u201cshockingly bad decision\u201d that had allowed \u201cpernicious climate misinformation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interview with President Trump was filled with falsehoods, such as claiming that climate change is a hoax and that China does not have any windfarms,\u201d he said. \u201cThis feeble decision, with no explanation offered, rather suggests that Ofcom is afraid of standing up to Trump for fear of antagonising him further.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Ofcom spokesperson said: \u201cWe carefully considered complaints about this current affairs programme which featured an interview with US President Donald Trump interspersed with a studio panel discussion and other guest interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreserving due impartiality is a cornerstone of Ofcom\u2019s broadcasting rules and we carried out a detailed assessment of the entire programme as broadcast. While we acknowledge that President Trump\u2019s views were not challenged during the interview itself, the surrounding panel discussion and other guest interviews offered a range of alternative perspectives which strongly challenged his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven this, we will not be pursuing complaints about this programme further.\u201d<\/p>\n

GB News was contacted for comment, but did not wish to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s media regulator Ofcom has been accused of abandoning \u201cany pretence\u201d of guarding against misleading and biased…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-416600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}