Ofcom is investigating whether shadow foreign secretary David Lammy’s show on LBC breached broadasting rules, the watchdog has said.
The regulator said it was probing whether the Labour’s frontbencher’s programme on 29 March “broke our rules on politicians acting as news presenters”, it said on Monday.
During that broadcast, Mr Lammy read out a breaking news bulletin, informing listeners of his LBC show that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had resigned as DUP leader after being charged with allegations of a historical nature.
Ofcom is understood to be investigating the programme in relation to two sections of the Broadcasting Code, which state that news in whatever form must be presented with due impartiality, and that politicians cannot act as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes without exceptional editorial justification.
As such, the regulator concluded last month that five programmes on GB News – featuring politicians acting as news presenters – broke broadcasting due impartiality rules.
Days later, GB News broadcaster Darren Grimes was among those sharing a clip of Mr Lammy’s progrmame on 29 March as he broke the news of Sir Jeffrey’s resignation. Mr Grimes wrote: “Dear Ofcom, I assume you’ll be sanctioning them for this, as you did GB News.”
Ofcom is understood to have received 53 complaints about Mr Lammy’s broadcast.
While the arrival of GB News and its penchant for employing former and sitting Conservative MPs has intensified debate over the role of politicians in broadcasting, Ofcom chief Baron Michael Grade told the BBC last year that “we don’t want to be in the business of telling broadcasters, licensees, who they can employ, who they can’t employ”.
He added: “Our job is to ensure … within the rules of due impartiality that there is plenty of choice and freedom of expression on the airwaves.”
In addition to its probe into Mr Lammy, Ofcom announced on Monday that it had “warned TalkTV after potentially highly offensive comments were made by presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer”.
In an interview about the Israel-Gaza war, Ms Hartley-Brewer had claimed that Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, was perhaps “not used to women talking”.
Ofcom said: “Strong guidance has been issued, but following a careful assessment we have decided not to formally investigate.”
