Do your duty! Watch an hour of GB News

The main reason GB News has been able to pump out Reform UK propaganda, day in, day out, is simple: Ofcom will only act when it receives complaints.

You might be appalled by that reality – it’s the same failure of regulation that led to sewage in our waterways and innocent Post masters jailed. But for now, this is the reality.

And because GB News’ audience is largely watching because it agrees with what it sees, those complaints are few and far between. It gets away with it precisely because its audience is so self-selecting.

We’d like to change that—and we need your help. Consider it a small civic duty.

Tune into GB News for an hour this week. Watch a programme. If you believe it breaches Ofcom’s rules on impartiality and accuracy, tell us.

You can fill in the form in this week’s magazine or email us directly at GBNewsWatch@thenewworld.co.uk.

We will collate submissions and present them to Ofcom as a single, evidence-based package.

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This is not about censoring free speech. It’s about enforcing the law. GB News—now, by some measures, the most-watched TV news channel in the country—has legal obligations like any other broadcaster.

Our view is that the channel has developed a formula: maximise Reform UK talking points (especially on immigration), stack panels with sympathetic voices, narrow the agenda, and use presenters who steer discussion in one direction.

There is nothing wrong with debating Reform’s ideas. But the law requires due impartiality and due accuracy—a genuine range of views, and a clear process for correcting errors.

On the evidence, GB News is failing that test.

With your help, we can hold both the broadcaster and the regulator to account.

But it won’t happen if everyone—like Ofcom—looks the other way.

So: watch an hour. If it breaks the rules, report it.

Below is listed the Ofcom guidance of impartiality and accuracy. We’ve also published a sample report from one of our reviewers that led to our expose. As you can see, we’ve used simple fact-checking to list factual inaccuracies, we’ve noted when options were unduly one-sided and when panel topics were overbearingly focussed on Reform’s core policies, like immigration.

These are the breaches of the Ofcom rules that we need GB News to correct.

Is all of this just a waste of time? We don’t think so. We’ve already seen a swell of support for our campaign, from high-profile influencers and politicians. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey has taken up the issue in parliament, asking the Prime Minister what he and Lisa Nandy, the minister for media, are going to do about it.

Sir Keir replied, essentially, that it was up to Ofcom. Together, we can make sure Ofcom understand that passivity in the face of persistent and cynical defiance of the law it is their to uphold is not an option.

This is what the Ofcom rules say about due impartiality and accuracy in broadcasting:

Broadcasters must take reasonable steps to ensure facts are correct, and significant errors must be acknowledged and corrected promptly and clearly.

On matters of political controversy and public policy, broadcasters must ensure that a range of significant viewpoints is adequately represented, either within a single programme or across a series of programmes over time. Crucially, views must not be misrepresented, and no single perspective should be given undue prominence.

Presenters in current affairs programmes may express opinions, but alternative viewpoints must still be included and given appropriate weight.

Overall, the aim is not to eliminate opinion, but to ensure that audiences are not misled and are exposed to a sufficiently broad range of perspectives to make informed judgments.

You can read the full Ofcom regulations here.

What we would like you to do:

Watch at least one hour of a GB News programme. If you believe it contravenes Ofcom’s rules, email us at GBNewsWatch@thenewworld.co.uk with the following information.

1: The name of the programme

2: The time and date it was broadcast

3: Details of the breaches you found in no more than 1500 characters.

4: You name and postcode.

You can find examples of the breaches we found during our investigation of 15 hours of GB News programming here. [link to dossier].

In doing this, you agree to give TheNewWorld the right to pass your complaint on to Ofcom. We will not use your personal information in any other way and your personal details will not be made public at any time.

Thanks for helping us keep GB News on the right side of the law. Please share this with anyone else you think might volunteer – the more scrutiny this TV channel faces, the more effective our campaign will be.

Matt Kelly
Founder and editor in chief, The New World