GB News has been accused of circumventing rules prohibiting serving politicians from presenting news programmes.
Ofcom has so far declined to take action, identifying the politician-led programmes as current affairs programmes. Under Ofcom’s own guidance, politicians are allowed to present current affairs programmes, but with caveats around election time.
Ahead of this May’s local elections, Ofcom has issued a note to broadcasters to help them tell the difference between a news programme and a current affairs programme:
| More likely to be a news programme | More likely to be a current affairs programme |
|---|---|
| a newsreader presenting directly to the audience | more long-form programme |
| a running order or list of stories, often in short form | extensive discussion, analysis or interviews with guests |
| the use of reporters or correspondents to deliver packages or live reports | …and long-form video reports |
| …and/or a mix of video and reporter items. |
Ofcom says that Section Nine of the Broadcasting Code makes clear that current affairs programmes – by their nature – contain “…explanation and/or analysis of current events and issues, including material dealing with political or industrial controversy or with current public policy”.
Blurred lines
Traditionally, current affairs programmes like Panorama and Question Time have always been very distinct from news programmes. But GB News’ increased use of politician-led magazine style programmes with embedded half-hourly news updates, some degree of a running order and on-screen shared branding and studio across news and current affairs segments have attempted to push the boundaries of regulations.
And with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky increasing the use of ‘current affairs elements’ such as analysis and extensive discussions, including ‘explainers’ and fact-checks in their news programmes, the difference between what counts as news and what counts as current affairs continue to be clear as mud.
Ofcom has however noted that both news and current affairs programmes must preserve due impartiality on matters of current public policy or political/industrial controversy.
Iain Hatton