Elham Asaad Buaras
GB News accounted for half of all news broadcast coverage involving Muslims over two years, much of it reportedly negative, according to an analysis by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM).
Titled GB News: A Snapshot of Anti-Muslim Hate, the report highlights what it describes as an “excessive” and near-“obsessive” focus on Muslims. Researchers argue that the coverage is “overwhelmingly negative” and fails to reflect the diversity of Muslim communities across the UK.
The report warns that such coverage risks fuelling community tensions and potentially contributing to civil unrest.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi described the research as “shocking.” Meanwhile, Stewart Purvis, a former ITN executive and Ofcom regulator, emphasised that the findings raise significant questions for the broadcasting watchdog.
Disproportionate References to Muslims and Islam (GB News: A Snapshot of Anti-Muslim Hate)
The two-year analysis revealed that GB News referenced Muslims or Islam over 17,000 times in its content, accounting for nearly 50% of all mentions across UK news channels. By comparison, BBC News and Sky News contributed 32% and 21% of such references, respectively.
GB News was also found to focus heavily on domestic stories about Muslims, in contrast to rival channels, which covered a larger proportion of international news on the subject. The report accuses GB News of frequently portraying Muslims and their beliefs as part of a conspiracy to undermine British values, often likening them to a “Trojan horse” in the UK.
GB News mentioned Islamophobia 1,180 times, accounting for 60% of all such references compared to BBC News and Sky News combined. According to the CfMM, these mentions were predominantly critical of the concept of Islamophobia itself.
During last summer’s riots, GB News accounted for 62% of all clips on UK news channels linking Muslims to the unrest. Researchers allege the network repeatedly portrayed Muslims as “perpetrators rather than victims of violence,” spread disinformation, and “downplayed attacks on mosques and Muslim communities.”
The report also highlights GB News’s focus on so-called “two-tier” policing, airing debates that questioned whether police disproportionately targeted white working-class Britons while showing leniency towards Muslim communities.
Lady Warsi stated: “The consistent stereotyping and stigmatisation of British Muslim communities as the ‘enemy’ or the ‘problem’ by a platform with millions of viewers is deliberate, dangerous, and has real-life consequences. Seeing the impact of far-right radicalisation, with the alarming year-on-year rise in anti-Muslim hatred culminating in this summer’s riots, where mosques and Muslim communities were openly targeted, should have been a wake-up call for all.”
She added: “It is imperative that both the regulator and the government take decisive action to ensure broadcasting platforms are not used to fuel hatred and extremism that manifests as violent disorder on Britain’s streets.”
Purvis, who contributed commentary to the report, raised concerns about Ofcom’s regulatory approach: “Has its deregulated model for broadcast news created an unintended consequence? Can a broadcaster be allowed to try to build its audience and political influence by consistently portraying an ethnic community in a negative light?”
CfMM Director Rizwana Hamid criticised Ofcom’s handling of GB News. “Before GB News entered the British media landscape, our focus was on the misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam in print and online publications, as Ofcom’s broadcast regulations were traditionally more robust than those of the press regulator IPSO. However, the scale of anti-Muslim hate on GB News and Ofcom’s reluctance to regulate its harmful content has allowed politicians and commentators to malign Muslims and Islam in ways no other channel does. A robust regulator should enforce impartiality regulations and hold broadcasters to established codes,” said Hamid.
The Centre is not alone in criticising GB News for its content and accuracy. The independent media watchdog Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) has also raised concerns, labelling the channel “right-biased” and “questionable.” MBFC cited issues such as a lack of transparency regarding ownership and funding, repeated failures in fact-checking, and the promotion of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience.
In response, a GB News spokesperson dismissed the report, saying: “This inaccurate and defamatory report is nothing more than a cynical, self-serving attempt to silence free speech. It proves exactly why a news organisation like GB News needs to exist and 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,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to The Muslim News.
