GB News Wins Landmark Legal Battle With UK Media Regulator Ofcom Over Trump Report
deadline.comGB News has won a landmark legal battle with UK media regulator Ofcom over a report by presenter Jacob Rees-Mogg about Donald Trump.
In a High Court ruling, a judge found that Ofcom was unlawful in determining that GB News breached broadcasting rules in two separate editions of Mogg’s State Of The Nation show.
Ofcom argued that Mogg, a former Conservative minister, veered into newsreader territory when telling viewers in May 2023 that a jury had found Donald Trump guilty of sexually assaulting writer E.
Jean Carroll. The regulator said this, and a separate report on Valdo Calocane killing three people in Nottingham, constituted a breach of rule 5.3 of the UK broadcasting code, which states: “No politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.” In reaching this conclusion, Ofcom ruled last March that State Of The Nation could be characterized as both a “news programme” and a “current affairs” show, the latter of which is exempt from rule 5.3.
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