GB News broadcasts half of all UK stories about Muslims, in what a damning new report has called an “obsession”.
The analysis, conducted by the Centre for Media Monitoring, suggests the channel mentioned Islam or Muslims over 17,000 times over a two-year period, with a predominantly negative slant.
The coverage accounted for over 50 per cent of mentions of Muslims on broadcast media, with BBC News and Sky News accounting for 32 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
Islamophobia had been mentioned 1,180 times by the channel, with the main purpose being to discredit the concept as a whole. During the UK riots this summer, GB News accounted for 62 per cent of clips shared, with Muslims being portrayed as the perpetrators of violence rather than victims.
In the report titled, “GB News: A snapshot of anti-Muslim hate”, CfMM warned that the network’s reporting “risks inciting violence and discrimination against Muslim communities”.
The report concludes that the channel “rarely features Muslim perspectives”, often “fails to challenge Islamophobic remarks” and portrays Muslims as a “Trojan horse” seeking to undermine British values. It urged Ofcom to “do its job and regulate the channel”.
GB News have denied the claims and have called the findings “highly defamatory”, alleging that they were not approached for comment ahead of its publication.
“This inaccurate and defamatory report is nothing more than a cynical, self-serving attempt to silence free speech,” a spokesperson said.
”It proves exactly why a news organisation like GB News needs to exist and why it is succeeding.
“We are concerned that at no point did this project of the Muslim Council of Britain contact GB News or its presenters to allow them to respond to these highly defamatory allegations.”
In response to claims it was not enforcing impartiality, an Ofcom spokesperson said, “All regulated broadcasters must comply with our broadcasting rules. We enforce these rules fairly and proportionately, acting independently and impartially at all times.
“We have found GB News in breach of our rules 12 times, and recently imposed a £100,000 financial penalty on GB News for breaking due impartiality rules.”
Commenting on the report’s findings, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: “The findings from this report about the excessive nature of GB News’s reporting on Muslim communities when compared to mainstream media outlets like Sky and BBC is shocking.”
