Former Ofcom Standards Chief Condemns Watchdog’s ‘Two Tier’ Approach to GB News

Ofcom has created a false distinction between ‘current affairs’ and ‘news’ which is allowing highly-partisan political figures to present what are effectively news shows on TV, according to the former official who wrote the regulator’s broadcasting code.

Chris Banatvala, Ofcom’s founding Director of Standards, told Byline Times that the position taken by the watchdog had created a “two tier” situation whereby channels like GB News are allowed to get away with things that the BBC and others would never be able to.

Banatvala was speaking as a report from cross-party think tank Demos finds that the UK is an outlier in Europe in allowing serving politicians to present news and current affairs programmes on regulated radio and television services.

The report, from Dr James Painter of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, draws on evidence from 37 media regulators in Europe. The survey found that in 35 of the national bodies which responded, regulators identified no examples of serving politicians presenting news or current affairs programmes, with isolated examples reported in only Iceland and Malta.

In contrast, almost a third of GB News‘ currently-listed presenters (10 of 32) are current or former representatives for right-wing parties, Byline Times analysis suggests, including (most famously) Reform UK’s Nigel Farage MP and Lee Anderson MP, as well as former Conservative cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg. The right-wing channel has notched up losses of over £142 million since its launch in 2021, according to Press Gazette.

Also on the list are former Brexit Party MEP (and ex-‘lads mag’ editor) Martin Daubney, former Conservative MP Miriam Cates, recent Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin, ex-Brexit Party MEP candidate Michelle Dewberry, Leo Kearse who stood for Laurence Fox’s hard-right Reclaim party, and 2018 Conservative local election candidate Tom Harwood. Only one presenter appears to have been closely associated with Labour, ex-MP Gloria De Piero.

Ex Ofcom standards chief Chris Banatvala told Byline Times Ofcom “allows politicians to present and report on current affairs programmes” – despite there being “no difference” in law between the impartiality requirement for news and for what are deemed “controversial matters”.

He suggested Parliament tweaks the Communications Act so that Ofcom is “fully aware that due impartiality in news should be at the same level” as what it calls current affairs.

The former regulator told this outlet: “When the Ofcom code was originally drafted and published, nobody expected that politicians would regularly present current affairs programmes, day in, day out, on a news channel. It was never envisaged.”

The original guidance was dropped, he said. “There was a view that having politicians regularly interviewing guests from the same party would be a clear breach of impartiality. That understanding seems to have disappeared.”

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Change in the Air

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson suggested policy change was coming, telling this outlet: “We are exploring what action to take, to make sure people know whether what they are watching is opinion or fact.”

The Government spokesperson added: “Trusted, unbiased news that holds elected politicians to account is vital to ensuring we have a functioning democracy. The modern media landscape has become more complicated by a blurring of polemic and fact, with viewers struggling to separate a politician’s political allegiance from objective news reporting.”

The Government says it does not intervene in Ofcom’s regulatory duties.

In June, ministers published a Green Paper, Watch this space: A new direction for UK media, which explored ways to ensure audiences can continue to find trusted news. The public consultation ran until 31 August and the Government is now considering the responses.

Byline Times understands that policy decisions will be set out ‘in due course’.

While LBC is among those which has featured politicians as presenters, including Labour’s David Lammy MP, as well as ITV’s Good Morning Britain presenter, former Labour minister Ed Balls, they “make a significant effort to include a range of views and politicians from different political parties,” Banatvala says. “That does not seem to be happening with GB News.”

Banatvala believes “if you are going to have a regulated broadcast area, you need to do it properly.”

“Broadcast news and information is the most trusted source, and we lose that at our peril,” he adds, suggesting Britain may be sleepwalking into a more hyper-partisan, US-style broadcasting ecosystem.

“Ofcom doesn’t seem to be grabbing the bull by the horns. For whatever reason, whether legal, accidental or policy, they don’t appear to be regulating some channels as well as they should,” he told Byline Times.

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An Outlier in Europe

Most countries restrict the practice, the study finds. In 34 European countries, legislation, regulation or professional codes either expressly prohibit or substantially restrict politicians from presenting such programmes.

Eight countries have explicit prohibitions: France, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Moldova, Portugal, Romania and Norway expressly ban politicians from presenting news or current affairs – whether through broadcasting legislation, regulatory codes, restrictions on holding multiple offices, or journalists’ codes of practice.

The few examples found elsewhere in Europe include Iceland, where between 2018-19 and for two months in 2021, an MP hosted a radio and TV show. In Malta, political parties are permitted to hold broadcast licences and some MPs have presented interview programmes.

But Banatvala the UK’s own ban is being circumvented by the idea of a completely separate “current affairs” category to news.

“‘Current affairs’ is a false distinction that Ofcom has made. Ofcom could, or should, require due impartiality in news as it does on controversial and major controversial matters. So politicians should not be presenting these programmes which are effectively long-form news programmes,” even under current rules, he argues.

The lines between news and current affairs appear hazy at best. Ofcom defines and regulates the BBC’s World at One, Newsnight, The Today Programme and other news-adjacent shows as “news”. But it defines similar long-form news programmes, such as Nigel Farage’s own show, on GB News as current affairs.

“What is the difference between Farage’s programme and Newsnight? It is the same format…In our research, Stewart Purvis and I found that 93% of GB News programmes covered the news of the day. They are long-form news programmes. This artificial division between current affairs and news has become very, very blurred,” Banatvala told Byline Times.

Twenty-six countries surveyed outside the UK constrain politicians-as-presenters indirectly. Where there is no outright ban, politicians are substantially limited by rules on e.g. impartiality, transparency, objectivity or pluralism, conflict-of-interest, or independence from government. Just three countries of the sample have no specific restrictions – Armenia, Finland and Malta. But regulators in Armenia and Finland reported no examples of it occurring.

The UK is unique in distinguishing between news and current affairs, according to the report. “Ofcom appears to be the only regulator that differentiates between news and current affairs for the purpose of who can present programmes,” it found.

UK broadcasting law requires Ofcom to ensure “due impartiality” in all news content and on matters of major political or industrial controversy, and major matters of public policy.

But GB News in particular has been able to put forward a legion of politicians as presenters through shows it calls “current affairs”.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called Nigel Farage hosting a GB News show “completely unsatisfactory”, and has said the public are “right to be concerned” about elected politicians acting as presenters.

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GB News and Ofcom

The distinction between news and current affairs was tested in court in February 2025, when the High Court quashed two Ofcom breach decisions against GB News over Jacob Rees-Mogg’s programme, establishing that a programme cannot legally be both a news and a current affairs programme.

Ofcom subsequently proposed tightening its rules, but after consultation dropped a plan a stop politicians being used as newsreaders, news interviewers or news reporters in any type of programme (without ‘exceptional justification’) in October 2025, opting instead for revised guidance.

GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos has said the channel does not use politicians to present news programmes, only current affairs, and that it always includes a range of political perspectives.

But the issue came to a head last month, when after a hiatus, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage presented his ‘current affairs’ show on GB News to discuss political donations – when scandal was engulfing his party on that very topic.

Banatvala says: “Here is a programme he is presenting, giving him an unrivalled platform to defend himself without being challenged by any independent journalist. He did have Labour and Conservative guests on, but there was no proper independence. There is a clear conflict there…

“Farage’s position is perfectly acceptable to hear in political debate. The issue is that he is not subject to the independent scrutiny that other representatives would be. That means giving him and his party undue prominence, and a general lack of due impartiality on Reform UK matters on that channel.”

He doesn’t believe Ofcom is likely to investigate the programme, which “potentially undermines the requirement on a licensee to have independent journalism and to challenge authority.”

Azzurra Moores, Associate Director of Information Ecosystems at Demos, called for the Culture Secretary to act on the findings. “Our evidence shows the UK is an outlier, and it sets out the range of rules other countries use. Populism is changing how politicians reach the public. Regulators and the government need to decide now whether the rules are still fit for purpose.”

A spokesperson for Ofcom told Byline Times: “Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code (specifically Rule 5.3) is clear that no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified. In that case, the political allegiance of that person must be made clear to the audience.

“While politicians are permitted to present non-news programmes – provided they are not standing in an election taking place – such programmes must still comply with the other due impartiality rules in the Code.”

The regulator insisted that “news in whatever form” must be “presented with due impartiality.” Ofcom says the Broadcasting Code’s current rules secure the standards objectives set by Parliament – “including the special protection afforded to news over non-news content.”

“Changes to the standards objectives are rightly a matter for Government and Parliament.”

However, Chris Banatvala believes the problem is not the current rules, but whether they are being enforced.

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A ‘Two-Tier System’

Since 1 October 2025, Ofcom says it has received 1,374 complaints concerning 48 individual cases or issues relating to politicians presenting programmes – representing 1.55% of total standards complaints received during the period.

But Banatvala says the number of Ofcom investigations has collapsed. “In 2019, Ofcom published 142 editorial investigations cases. In 2025, that dropped to 36.”

On fairness and privacy issues, there have typically been around 250-plus complaints a year, with an average of 37 investigated and published, he says. “In 2025, that figure was three, and two of those were against the same programme.”

“Something is going on there. Ofcom is simply not investigating and publishing as many decisions as it used to. We should ask why.”

Banatvala says the broadcasting regulator is “still in a very difficult position,” allowing politicians presenting ‘current affairs’ programmes to go on for so long that “broadcasters now have a legitimate expectation” it will continue. “It will have to do something significant in this area.”

“The expectation of due impartiality has moved and is much more flexible. Sometimes, for Ofcom, only a sentence or two is enough to achieve impartiality. That was never the case when I was a regulator. Ofcom has got itself into this position: the tiniest nod to impartiality now gives broadcasters cover.”

He describes broadcasting rules as a “two-tier system”.

“The BBC and the other public service broadcasters are held to one standard, and others to a different one. The BBC was hauled over the coals a few years ago for its interview with Nigel Lawson on climate change denial. But on TalkRadio and GB News, we hear day in, day out that climate change is a hoax, a scam, a con, and nothing seems to happen. Ofcom seems to accept it.”

GB News has frequently broadcast claims that immigrants “invade” Britain, while Islam has been described as “medieval” and often referred to alongside rape gangs, Banatvala says. The channel has also broadcast claims associating LGBT+ people with paedophilia.

“Ofcom has allowed the Overton window to move, and these things are being said frequently unchecked on regulated broadcast channels. There is much climate change denial and vaccine denial, and then it seems to be taking a very long time over very important decisions.”

The ongoing investigation into a Donald Trump interview on GB News, widely condemned as fawning, is coming up to its first anniversary.

The Demos report is available here.

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