Comment on Dubious UK local news websites with Russian links are receiving cash for coverage

• TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If it was a newest channel it would already have been revoked, because they keep breaking Ofcom standards.

  Unfortunately, they’re using the same loophole that Fox News uses in the US… “We’re an entertainment channel that covers current affairs. We are not a news channel.”

  It’s staggering it works tbh, especially since their name literally has “news” in it.

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  • Flax_vert@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    That’s odd.

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    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I imagine Labour are scared to go after them because it’ll be called censorship, and the Tories didn’t do anything because they thought they’d benefit from it (short-sighted, now it’s Reform getting the benefit).

      Theoretically, Ofcom is independent, so the above shouldn’t be a thing, but in reality, like with Ofgem and Ofwat, I’m not sure that’s actually the case…

      Personally I’d be fine with a compromise: you get to keep your licence to air, but you have to be reclassified as a news channel, as that’s clearly what you brand yourself as to the public.

      It wouldn’t be the end of the world, you can still have an editorial slant. At the end of the day, Sky News has a mild right bias and Channel 4 News has a mild left bias. GB News just wouldn’t be able to get away with some of the more egregious stuff they do.

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  • HumanPenguin@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They no longer count as a broadcast channel in the UK. As they gave up(before losing).that licence.

    So ofcom now has limited control.

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• jabjoe@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They call themselves news but don’t follow the rules of TV news, you know, be balanced and truthful, because they say they are entertainment. The whole point of a license is to stop that kind thing. It should been long gone.

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• echodot@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That would be a case for censorship if they reported the actual news but they don’t. They’re like fox news in the United States, they literally make things up.

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• Zombie@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Only if there’s not legitimate reason to have it revoked.

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