GB News Embarrasses Britain’s Mainstream Media, Former Ofcom Chief Says

Britain’s leading right-wing news broadcaster, GB News, has continually faced attacks over alleged lack of impartiality since it was founded in 2021, with some senior television figures calling for its broadcasting license to be revoked. However, the station has now received support from one of Britain’s top media officials, who accused mainstream media of being "embarrassed" by GB News’ editorial approach.

GB News has repeatedly defended itself against claims that its platform has a right-wing bias, successfully overturning a ruling from Britain’s top media watchdog Ofcom that found the station had breached the broadcasting code due to its use of politicians as presenters. Ofcom is Britain’s media regulator and has the power to impose sanctions such as fines and can even strip a broadcaster of its license if it finds serious breaches of the broadcasting code.

But while critics continue to push the media watchdog to tackle the station’s alleged lack of impartiality, GB News has received strong support from former head of Ofcom and veteran broadcaster Michael Grade.

Grade’s tenure as Ofcom chairman began in 2022, when he was appointed by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and ended earlier this year when he stepped down to join the Conservative Party. Now that he has exited the post, Grade said he can speak freely about GB News and its critics.

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Covering the Agenda of the Majority

The veteran broadcaster accused Britain’s mainstream broadcast media of being “embarrassed” by GB News because it covers the “agenda of the majority”.

Grade said that polls on issues most relevant to voters show that a “large swathe” have “no voice” on the country’s public broadcaster, the BBC. Grade claimed GB News gives “weight” to issues such as immigration and Brexit in a way the BBC does not, asking: “So what’s the problem?”

GB News exists in a media landscape often marked by accusations and perceptions of left-wing political bias. For instance, a 2025 poll from YouGov found that 31% of the people living in the United Kingdom believed that the BBC is “generally biased” in favor of left-wing political views. Channel 4, one of the region’s largest broadcasters, has also faced accusations of left-wing bias over some of its coverage, but Ofcom has defended its impartiality.

In the five years since it was founded, GB News has grown quickly and is now outpacing mainstream news programs on the BBC and Sky, according to viewing figures for 2025. Overall, viewership has continued to increase for the channel. In 2024, GB News reached an average of 860,000 people per day, according to the broadcaster. In 2025, this rose by 19% to 1.02 million.

Former Ofcom figures have questioned Grade’s regulation of GB News, which was launched in June 2021 with a promise to be a voice for the “silenced”, citing a lack of intervention. Others criticized Grade’s decision not to change rules that allow politicians such as Reform Party leader Nigel Farage – who holds shares in GB News’s parent company – and Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg to present programs.

Michael Grade. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images

GB News Wins Legal Challenge

Ofcom launched a number of investigations into the channel over its use of political figures as presenters, ruling in one instance that it had breached the media watchdog’s regulatory code. However, this finding was overturned by the High Court after GB News appealed and all further investigations were dropped.

Grade said that the same rules apply to GB News as apply to the BBC, Sky and all other news programs.

He argued that “just because GB News make different editorial decisions” from mainstream broadcasters “doesn’t make it wrong”, adding that the channel has improved over time.

Grade’s intervention is significant given his career as both a veteran broadcaster and media regulator. It offers a counterpoint to serious criticism of the center-right news broadcaster by other senior figures in British television.

GB News has previously faced calls for it to be stripped of its broadcast license, with former Sky News political editor Adam Boulton accusing Ofcom of having “failed in its duty as a regulator”.

However, the right-wing channel has repeatedly defended its methods, saying it takes its responsibilities as a regulated broadcaster “seriously” and operates in compliance with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.