Ofcom finds GB News in breach of rules over Covid vaccine roll-out Nazi comparison

The broadcasting regulator Ofcom has found television channel GB News breached its rules by allowing a guest to make unchallenged claims that the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out was comparable to the actions of “doctors in pre-Nazi Germany”.

During an episode of presenter Mark Steyn’s show last October a guest, Dr Naomi Wolf “made serious claims about the Covid-19 vaccine”, Ofsted said, “including that its rollout amounted to a pre-meditated crime “mass murder”.

Ofcom received 422 complaints that alleged these comments were “dangerous” and included “misinformation” that went “unopposed”.

The regulator confirmed this was “the second significant breach of the Code recorded against GB News ” and added:” In light of this, we are requesting that GB News attends a meeting with Ofcom to discuss its approach to compliance.”

Explaining why this amounted to a breach of broadcasting rules, Ofcom said it was “important to stress that in line with the right to freedom of expression – broadcasters are free to transmit programmes that include controversial and challenging views, including about Covid-19 vaccines or conspiracy theories. ”

But they added:”However, alongside this editorial freedom, the Broadcasting Code imposes a clear requirement that if such content has the potential to be harmful, the broadcaster must ensure that its audience is adequately protected.”

Ofcom concluded that “GB News fell short of this requirement by allowing Naomi Wolf to promote a serious conspiracy theory without challenge or context – for example through other contributions in the programme or by the presenter, who appeared to support many of her comments.

“There was also no scrutiny of the evidence she claimed to hold to support her claims.”

The regulator added:” We also took into account that the programme presented Naomi Wolf as a figure of authority, with particular knowledge and expertise in the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines.

“We consider this would have lent credibility to her unchallenged claims. Of particular concern was her significant and alarming claim that “mass murder” was taking place through the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccinations, which she repeated three times.”

Ofcom said comments made by Wolf had the “potential to impact viewers’ decisions about their health and were therefore potentially harmful.”

Furthermore, they said:” Given that GB News did not take adequate steps to protect viewers from this potentially harmful content, we have found the channel in breach of rule 2.1 of the broadcasting code.

This is the second significant breach of the Code recorded against GB News . In light of this, we are requesting that GB News attends a meeting with Ofcom to discuss its approach to compliance.

Wolf had also appeared on the Steyn programme the day after her first appearance and made further claims about Covid-19 vaccines.

But Ofcom said her comments were put into context by other views expressed during the programme, and a banner broadcast throughout the segment informed viewers that Wolf had “faced widespread criticism for Covid research”.

In February it was reported that Steyn had quit GB News after the channel tried to make him personally responsible for paying fines issued by the media regulator Ofcom.

Steyn had been off-air since last year after suffering two heart attacks, and had told fans on his personal website that the station bosses initially insisted he could not return unless a defibrillator was fitted in the studio.

The channel had said: “GB News takes Ofcom compliance extremely seriously. All our presenters are expected to comply fully with the broadcast code and there are no exceptions. This does not impinge on our ability to ask tough questions, express strong opinions and debate the issues that matter to the people of Britain.”