GB News has launched a High Court challenge against Ofcom in a dramatic escalation of its row with the media regulator over impartiality.
The High Court has allocated three hours on Thursday morning to an application by GB News against the regulator.
Ahead of looming sanctions from Ofcom, it is understood that the broadcaster is applying for “interim relief”, a form of short-term protection during legal proceedings, in a highly unusual move for a broadcaster.
It comes amid mounting tensions between the self-styled “people’s channel”, part owned by hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall, and the communicators regulator.
In May, Ofcom concluded that an hour-long question-and-answer programme with Rishi Sunak, then prime minister, had broken due impartiality rules.
It said that the programme had generated 537 complaints and that the regulator “found GB News’s approach to compliance to be wholly insufficient”.
It claimed this was a “serious and repeated breach of these rules” and that it would now start “the process for consideration of a statutory sanction against GB News”.
GB News responded by accusing Ofcom of “trampling” on freedom of speech and would mount a legal challenge. The broadcaster pledged to dispute decisions that “go against journalists’ and broadcasters’ rights to make their own editorial judgements in line with the law and which also go against Ofcom’s own rules”.
It said: “The regulator’s threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own prime minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital.”
The investigation came two months after Ofcom said the channel was “on notice” over breaches as it warned the broadcaster over its use of MPs as presenters. The regulator said shows hosted by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies broke rules stating that politicians should not usually present news coverage.
Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s chief executive, told the FT that it was now “moving to sanctions on the most recent of those breaches” but that no decision to sanction the broadcaster, such as with a fine, had yet been taken.
The broadcaster has experienced a turbulent time since its launch in 2021, with its original chairman, Andrew Neil, quitting after three months and having presented just eight shows.
It has faced an advertiser boycott since launch, with brands suspending ads on the channel out of fear of being associated with controversial content.
The ad boycott is believed to have taken a significant toll on finances at GB News, whose losses last year ballooned to more than £42m.
GB News and Ofcom declined to comment.
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