We’re in court to make Ofcom stop TalkTV’s misinformation

Content warning: transphobia

Good Law Project are in the High Court, asking permission for a judicial review of Ofcom’s failure to investigate TalkTV over broadcasts containing transphobic hate and misinformation.

Last year, our investigation found 11 TalkTV programmes where hosts and guests attacked the trans community again and again. Over 21,000 people complained, but Ofcom launched an investigation into just one broadcast, giving the rest the all clear.

Among the broadcasts it chose to ignore were segments where presenters labelled trans women as “hulking great perverts”, repeated the lie that gender dysphoria is a mental illness, and made the outrageous claim that the Supreme Court ruled trans women are men – even though the court was very clear that it was not adjudicating on the wider meaning of gender or sex.

The broadcasting code says that channels must protect the public from “harmful and/or offensive material” and that “views and facts must not be misrepresented”. We believe the programmes Ofcom ignored breached these basic standards.

We believe TalkTV also flagrantly violated its duty to provide “due impartiality” on controversial matters. It didn’t even bother to include a single voice supporting trans people across the entire run of broadcasts.

When we challenged Ofcom on this point, it conceded that trans issues involve political controversy, but refused to accept that they are “major matters” of “national importance”. Under Ofcom’s framework, if an issue isn’t labelled a “major matter”, channels aren’t obliged to include a wide range of significant views.

But trans rights have sparked years of media frenzy, parliamentary division, protests on the street, and legal action. If that’s not enough to make something a “major issue” in modern Britain, then what could?

By setting the bar this high, Ofcom is making a mockery of the standards designed to protect public debate. If a broadcaster can ignore impartiality  on an issue this important, there’s nothing stopping rightwing outlets from pumping out spite and lies about immigration, public services, or the climate crisis – poisoning national debate.

So we’re in court to force Ofcom to do its job. It’s time the regulator stopped giving TalkTV a free pass to spread misinformation and hate.