GB News has been fined £100,000 for an “egregious” breach of impartiality rules when hosting a debate with Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister.
Ofcom, the media regulator, said the TV channel had failed to maintain balance during the hour-long question and answer programme, People’s Forum: The Prime Minister.
It said Mr Sunak had largely been able to air his views in an “uncontested” format in February in the run up to the General Election. The watchdog said the breach was “particularly egregious – it gave the then-prime minister, the most important politician in the country, a mostly uncontested, almost hour-long platform to set out his views about the government’s policies and performance”.
The regulator said that an “appropriately wide range of significant views was not presented and given due weight”. It received more than 500 complaints about the broadcast.
Angelos Frangopoulos, chief executive of GB News, called the fine “a direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom”.
He said: “We believe these sanctions are unnecessary, unfair and unlawful.”