TalkTV, the online channel owned by Rupert Murdoch's News UK, breached impartiality rules in a programme that repeatedly accused the government of cancelling local elections due to fear of Reform UK, Ofcom has ruled.
The regulator issued a rare ruling against a show hosted by Kevin O'Sullivan, in which he and other contributors alleged that some local elections were scrapped where ministers feared Nigel Farage's party would win. The programme also featured a clip from Farage's YouTube channel repeating the accusation, and presenter Ash Gould described the government's proposal as 'Saddam Hussein, Putin sort of territory'.
Ofcom said the programme failed to properly reflect the government's position, which was that postponements were in areas facing local government reorganisation, making elections an 'expensive and irresponsible waste of taxpayers' money'. The presenter dismissed this as 'some old drivel about the border lines of constituency boundaries changing'.
News UK argued that O'Sullivan's provocative style made his views clear, but Ofcom rejected this. In a statement, News UK acknowledged it had 'fallen short of our own and Ofcom's expectations' on this occasion.
