Veteran Reporter Martin Bell Praises Ofcom’s GB News Ruling, Warns Against ‘Foxification Of British Broadcasting’

Veteran BBC war reporter Martin Bell argued against the “Foxification of British broadcasting” as he blasted GB News as a “political broadcast masquerading as a news program.”

Bell appeared on Sky News on Tuesday to discuss a new ruling issued Monday by broadcast regulator Ofcom saying that the channel had violated due impartiality rules during a Q&A session with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The media watchdog came under criticism from GB News hosts, including Nigel Farage, for announcing it is considering imposing a statutory sanction following the outcome of an investigation launched in February after it received 547 complaints about the show.

The probe concluded that GB News failed to present a wide range of significant views, and audience members did not effectively challenge Sunak’s responses. It found that the programme also lacked alternative viewpoints or criticisms of the Conservative Party’s policies.

Reflecting on the judgement on Sky News, Bell told host Kay Burley: “We’re talking about GB News and the threat of the Foxification of British broadcasting, which has always been regulated. We have a wild press, a lot of it very right wing. This is fine. But the broadcasting environment is precious.”

He continued: “When Sky began, and I’ve got a very high esteem for Sky, it played by the rules and everybody played by the rules until [GB News] came along – which sometimes appears to be a part of political broadcast masquerading as a news program.

Praising the watchdog’s stand, Bell added: “This is GB News and Ofcom is all that stands between us and really the politicisation of the broadcasting environment, which I don’t want and you don’t want. I mean, Sky has been very clear and straight since its founding. This is the threat that we all face now.”