A GB News presenter has dramatically quit after the broadcaster tried to make him pay for Ofcom fines.
Mark Steyn, who is being investigated by the media regulator for making claims doubting the safety of Covid vaccines, posted a video ripping into his previous employers over a new contract they tried to get him to sign.
Steyn has been off work for a while after surviving two heart attacks and said his new contract demanded he agree to pay for any potential breaches of Ofcom's code, despite fines usually being the responsibility of the broadcaster not the individual presenter.
"You may be a homicidal maniac intent on bringing on a third fatal heart attack but you’ll have to do better than this”, Steyn said of the terms.
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The presenter added he used to call GB News’s in-house compliance officer “Ofcom’s b***h” when they argued about what he was allowed to say on air.
“Well Ofcom’s b***h has had his revenge now,” said Steyn in his video, referring to the new terms in his contract he didn't agree with including Ofcom training.
He continued: “I’m on the hook for Ofcom fines but I don’t have any say in our defence against an Ofcom complaint – that’s all done by GB News. Ofcom’s b***h, as I call the compliance officer, will be making the weedy defence to Ofcom and then I’m the one who has to pay the £40,000 fine,” he added.
\u201cMark Steyn quits GB News after they threaten to make him pay fines to the media regulators for casting doubt on safety of Covid vaccines\n\u201d— Citizen Free Press (@Citizen Free Press) 1675742180
GB News told the Guardian: “GB News takes Ofcom compliance extremely seriously. All our presenters are expected to comply fully with the broadcast code and there are no exceptions. This does not impinge on our ability to ask tough questions, express strong opinions and debate the issues that matter to the people of Britain.”
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