Lee Anderson? The MP Lee Anderson? The MP Lee Anderson who got caught faking an interview? The MP Lee Anderson who thinks the death penalty has a 100% success rate? The MP Lee Anderson who thinks people so destitute that they have to use food banks just can’t budget properly? The MP Lee Anderson who was investigated into claims he is antisemitic? That Lee Anderson?
“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.”
(Source: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcoms-rules-on-politicians-on-tv-and-radio)
But what we see here is these programmes being billed not as news, but as talk shows or current events programmes which allows them to sidestep this.
An example of an article which lists a series of complaints being investigated by ofcom as of September 2023: https://www.thenational.scot/news/23799032.full-list-gb-news-shows-investigation-ofcom/
Note:This is from The National, an outlet which is very anti-Tory and I’m sure subject to a few impartiality complaints itself!
Lee Anderson? The MP Lee Anderson? The MP Lee Anderson who got caught faking an interview? The MP Lee Anderson who thinks the death penalty has a 100% success rate? The MP Lee Anderson who thinks people so destitute that they have to use food banks just can’t budget properly? The MP Lee Anderson who was investigated into claims he is antisemitic? That Lee Anderson?
That’s the one. The 30p Lee that presents on GB News.
Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to present on a channel with “news” in the title.
I believe ofcom almost agree too…
“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.” (Source: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcoms-rules-on-politicians-on-tv-and-radio) But what we see here is these programmes being billed not as news, but as talk shows or current events programmes which allows them to sidestep this. An example of an article which lists a series of complaints being investigated by ofcom as of September 2023: https://www.thenational.scot/news/23799032.full-list-gb-news-shows-investigation-ofcom/ Note:This is from The National, an outlet which is very anti-Tory and I’m sure subject to a few impartiality complaints itself!
They literally rely on their own blog post to take that position, it’s not what they rules they have been given state.