TELL OFCOM: These climate conspiracies should not have been broadcast

Watch: GB News host Bev Turner alleges that the climate crisis has been manufactured by private companies and “climate lobbyists” to make money.

On 9th October, GB News host Bev Turner shared a conspiracy theory alleging that the climate crisis has been deliberately manufactured as a means for companies and lobbyists to get money.

The segment breached Ofcom rules 5.1 and 5.11, which require that news is reported with “due accuracy” and that “due impartiality” must be delivered “on matters of major political or industrial controversy”. Turner’s claims about climate change being a manufactured threat was also a violation of rule 2.2, requiring that “portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience”.

Submit your complaint to Ofcom using this form and by following the guidance below. 

Programme details:

Programme title: Britain’s Newsroom
Date of broadcast: 09 October 2024
Time of broadcast (24 hour clock): 11:38
Channel / station: GB News

Your complaint:

Subject: GB News host Bev Turner promoted a conspiracy theory that “the eco zealots” manufactured the climate crisis to make money for private companies. The segment violated Ofcom rules 5.1, 5.11 and 2.2.

Description:

Here’s a few bullet points to include:

• On 9th October 2024, GB News hosts Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce discussed a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warning that the UK has not addressed the national security risk from climate change.
• Host Bev Turner questioned conspiratorially if “this is an opportunity for massive transnational corporations to make money out of we, the little people, under the auspices of a climate emergency”. Bev Turner also alleged to a representative of IPPR on the show that “the eco zealots, forgive me, of which you possibly are one, realised that governments were not getting on board with” climate issues and so, because “private companies want more money, in order to get the attention of governments, “the climate lobbyists decided to tell us that we’re all at risk”. Finally, Turner asked her co-host Andrew Pierce whether “you feel you’re at risk from climate change”, to which he responded, “I do not. I feel more at risk from the massive increase in the population”. 
• This segment was misleading, unbalanced and not appropriate for a programme called “Britain’s Newsroom”. It violated Ofcom rules 5.1 and 5.11, which require that news is reported with “due accuracy” and “due impartiality” and that “due impartiality” must be delivered “on matters of major political or industrial controversy”. Additionally, Turner’s claims about climate change being a manufactured threat is a violation of Ofcom rule 2.2, which requires that “portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience”.