Andrew Cole claims regulator’s crackdown on startup was fuelled by backlash from rivals
Source - Daily Telegraph 25/08/24
Andrew Cole, a veteran TV executive who helped set up GB News four years ago, said Ofcom’s crackdown on the startup channel had been fuelled by a backlash from its traditional competitors.
The media regulator has threatened to fine GB News following repeated breaches of broadcasting rules on issues including impartiality and the use of politicians as presenters.
But Mr Cole said he thought Ofcom had been “relatively fair throughout this whole thing”, given the pressure it was facing from incumbent players such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
He said: “The unbelievable, unrelenting drive from the rest of the market to punish GB News because they obviously dislike them has been so profound that I think actually Ofcom has been very restrained.”
Mr Cole, who described himself as a “huge believer in free speech”, said he could not comment on specific investigations. But he added: “In aggregate, they’ve been fairly fair and GB News is right to fight its corner.”
Ofcom has carried out more than 20 investigations into GB News since the channel’s launch in 2021 on a range of issues, including spreading harmful misinformation about Covid.
The most recent ruling came in May, when the regulator found GB News had breached impartiality rules in a programme featuring then-prime minister Rishi Sunak. It said it was considering a sanction against the broadcaster owing to “serious and repeated breach” of the rules.
GB News hit back with its own legal challenge as it accused Ofcom of “trampling” on free speech.
Mr Cole, who has served on the board of US cable giant Liberty Global since 2013 and runs tech firm Glow Services Corp, resigned from GB News and sold his stake in the business just a year after its launch.
However, he insisted that GB News had proved there was a gap in the market for US-style opinionated programming.
He said: “The view that there was a large segment of the UK population that would welcome an alternative perspective I think has been proven.
“The way that the recent riots were covered in the traditional media versus GB News I think is an example of that – where there’s an alternative perspective provided – so I think it’s extremely valuable.”
Mr Cole’s support for GB News differs markedly from comments made by Andrew Neil, the former chairman of the channel who quit three months after the launch.
Speaking in front of a House of Lords committee earlier this year, Mr Neil said he left because the broadcaster had become “an outlet for bizarre conspiracy theories” at “the nutty end of politics”.
Comments
Post a Comment