In R (GB News Ltd) v Ofcom [2025] EWHC 460 (Admin), Collins Rice J quashed two decisions reached by Ofcom finding GB News to have been in breach of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 of the Broadcasting Code, allowing GB News’ claim for judicial review. The case was identified by The Lawyer as one of its Top 20 Cases for 2025.
Ofcom had assessed two broadcasts of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s State of Nation, hosted by Jacob Rees-Mogg (then a sitting MP). In the first, Mr Rees-Mogg read a short announcement of the verdict in the civil rape trial of Donald Trump; in the second, Mr Rees-Mogg conducted a short live interview with a correspondent obtaining an update about a series of murders in Nottingham. Ofcom found breaches of both Rules on the basis that Mr Rees-Mogg, as a politician, had acted as a newsreader in a news programme contrary to Rule 5.3, and that because Mr Rees-Mogg was a politician there was an inherent breach of the requirement in Rule 5.1 that news be reported with due impartiality.
Collins Rice J held that Ofcom had erred in its interpretation of the Code, contrary to the language of the Rules. Mr Rees-Mogg’s programme was a current affairs programme and not a news programme, and Ofcom was not entitled to treat a programme as being both a news and a current affairs programme; there was, accordingly, no breach of Rule 5.3. Although a person reading or reporting news being a politician was relevant to whether it had been reported with due impartiality, Ofcom was wrong in law to find that that was sufficient in and of itself; due impartiality required, under Rule 5.1, an assessment of the full context. On the same basis, Collins Rice J also held that it was likely that Ofcom’s approach was not prescribed by law for the purposes of Article 10 ECHR, further noting that Ofcom’s approach was a novel one and an outcome which was not reasonably foreseeable from either the wording of Rule 5.3 itself or Ofcom’s accompanying guidance. It was unnecessary in the circumstances to determine a challenge as to Ofcom’s compliance with its own procedures.
The judgment contains important guidance on the proper approach to the interpretation of a regulatory code generally, and on the impartiality requirements in relation to broadcasting specifically. It can be read here.
Christopher Knight, led by Tom Hickman KC, acted for GB News, instructed by Brown Rudnick.
David Glen, led by Jessica Boyd KC and with Rowan Stennett, acted for and was instructed by Ofcom.
