Ofcom Investigating GB News Over Donald Trump Interview With Bev Turner
Ofcom will probe GB News over a Donald Trump interview after all.
The UK regulator, which has been in something of an on-off battle with GB News for years, initially declined to investigate a Bev Turner sit-down with the POTUS from last November, during which Trump falsely claimed human-induced climate change was “a hoax” and said that London had no-go areas for police.
While Ofcom declined to investigate that one due to the fact that “alternative perspectives” were set out in a surrounding panel discussion, the regulator has today said it will probe the same interview for “due impartiality and material misleadingness” that aired 12 hours later.
This is because we understand that different surrounding content was included with the interview 12 hours later, which aired on the Dawn Neesom GB News show and featured different participants and discussion. Ofcom takes into account content and contextual factors such as this for each of its potential investigations.
“This programme featured an interview by GB News presenter, Bev Turner, with US President Donald Trump. We are investigating whether it breached our rules on due impartiality and material misleadingness,” said an Ofcom spokeswoman today.
Back in Feb, Ofcom said it wouldn’t be probing the initial Trump interview with Turner. She has in recent times become the Trump administration’s British journalist of choice and hosts a nightly GB News show from the U.S, The Late Show Live.
Ofcom has probed GB News numerous times and even fined the right-leaning network £100,000 ($136,000) over its People’s Forum: The Prime Minister live show with former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just before the 2024 general election. The regulator previously placed the channel “on notice” after five code breaches over the thorny issue of politicians acting as news presenters, before losing a court battle with GB News and upadting its guidance in the area. In recent months, relations between the pair had thawed somewhat.
