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TELL OFCOM: These COVID claims are dangerous to the public

Watch: GB News guest claims that ventilators killed COVID patients and that NHS vaccines kill people.

Read our complaint against GB News

On 26 September 2024, GB News guest Lewis Schaffer discussed Sir Chris Whitty’s comments to the UK COVID enquiry. Schaffer labelled England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty a “poor man’s Dr. Fauci and Dr. Fauci is a murderer”. Professor Sir Whitty and Dr Fauci, the former head of the US infectious diseases unit, both received death threats during the COVID-19 pandemic after conspiracy theories were spread about them.

Schaffer then blamed COVID-19 deaths on the use of ventilators by the NHS and alleged that COVID-19 vaccines are killing people. There was some minor attempt to challenge Schaffer’s claims but this was insufficient to counterweigh the serious potential threat to viewers from making such health claims.

The segment breached Ofcom rules 2.1 and 7.2, which require protecting the public from harmful material and the fair treatment of individuals.

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

Programme details:

Programme title: Headliners
Date of broadcast: 26 September 2024
Time of broadcast (24 hour clock): 23:33
Channel / station: GB News

Your complaint:

Subject: GB News broadcast dangerous and harmful anti-vaccine narratives, accusing Dr Anthony Fauci of being a “murderer”, claiming that ventilators killed COVID patients and that NHS vaccines kill people. This violated Ofcom rules 7.1 and 2.2.

Description:

Here’s a few bullet points to include:

  • Guest Lewis Schaffer claimed that during the pandemic people were dying because “you were plugging them into ventilators and killing them” and said “why are they dying? Because you’re killing them, anybody who takes a COVID vaccine.” Host Nick Dixon agreed and asked why the NHS are texting him to get the flu vaccine. Schaffer responded “because they want you dead”, to which Dixon agreed. This breaches Rule 2.1 that states the requirement of “adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material”.
  • The claim that vaccines kill has a reasonable likelihood of causing harm by influencing viewers’ health decisions. Schaffer also labelled Dr Anthony Fauci “a murderer” and Sir Chris Whitty a “poor man’s Dr. Fauci”. This violates Rule 7.1, which requires fair treatment of individuals. It is particularly serious considering the death threats received by Whitty and Fauci during the pandemic. Dixon laughed, claiming it was satire and apologised, but this excuse is inadequate in light of the circumstances.
  • At the end, after a message from a producer, Dixon contradicted his earlier comments stating “someone is telling me […] many people think [vaccines] are safe, is that right? […] That’s my view and the view of GB News: they save lives.” After repeatedly failing to counterweigh the deadly vaccine claims, this correction was insufficient, leaving the audience unprotected from harmful material and risking public harm.
Deadline for complaints: October 24, 2024 11:59 pm

Submitting a complaint to Ofcom should take you less than 10 minutes and is completed via a form on their website.

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Submitting a complaint to Ofcom should take you less than 10 minutes and is completed via a form on their website.

  • Ofcom is the UK’s public regulator for communications services. Among other responsibilities, their job is to ensure that TV channels uphold the Broadcasting Code. This code requires broadcasters to protect the public from harmful and offensive material, avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals and organisations, and report the news with due accuracy and impartiality.
  • Ofcom has real power to yield. Sanctions they can issue include directions not to repeat content, fines — and crucially, the power to suspend or revoke a TV channel’s licence to broadcast.
  • Ofcom must carefully consider every single complaint to see if their rules have been broken. If the complaint is strong, Ofcom will launch a formal investigation process.
  • Ofcom will not reply to each specific complaint but instead publishes records of the complaints received, investigations underway and breaches on their website, every fortnight.
  • Complaints must be about a specific breach of the code and submitted within 20 days of the program going to air.