Ofcom has fined the rightwing broadcaster GB News £100,000 for “breaking due impartiality rules” after an interview with the former prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year. The media regulator said it chose to impose a fine over the programme titled People’s Forum: The Prime Minister because it considered the breach serious, and because of GB News’s track record of breaking impartiality rules. “We concluded that the then prime minister Rishi Sunak had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his government in a period preceding a UK general election, in breach of rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the broadcasting code,” Ofcom said. “Given the seriousness and repeated nature of this breach, Ofcom has imposed a financial penalty of £100,000 on GB News Limited. We have also directed GB News to broadcast a statement of our findings against it, on a date and in a form determined by us. “GB News is challenging our original breach decision in this case by judicial review, which we are defending. Ofcom will not enforce this sanction decision until those proceedings are concluded.” The media watchdog began its investigation into GB News on 15 February, three days after the airing of the programme in which Sunak answered questions from a studio audience and a presenter. The regulator found that, while the viewer was able to see Sunak challenged to some extent by the questions from members of the audience, no follow-up was allowed if his answers proved unsatisfactory. And it found the presenter failed to challenge Sunak on the viewers’ behalf to “any meaningful extent”. Sunak was also allowed to freely criticise his political opponents without the viewer being given the benefit of their positions or responses. GB News has already been found to have repeatedly breached impartiality rules by allowing sitting Conservative MPs to serve as news presenters. The broadcast regulator said these related to five occasions involving Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies. All three were Tory MPs at the time, though only McVey remains in the Commons. The broadcaster was not fined but was put “on notice” that more breaches “may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction”. And Ofcom said GB News’s actions risked undermining the high public trust in regulated broadcast media. The channel has been given permission to seek a judicial review of Ofcom’s latest finding. But it failed to convince the high court to also temporarily stop the regulator publishing its sanction. GB News’s lawyers had argued that to do so would cause irreparable damage to the channel’s reputation. In October, Mr Justice Chamberlain said the likely impact on the broadcaster had been overstated. GB News’s chief executive, Angelos Frangopoulos, characterised the fine as a “direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom”, adding that he believed it was “unnecessary, unfair and unlawful”. He said: “The plan to sanction GB News flies in the face of Ofcom’s duty to act fairly, lawfully and proportionately to safeguard free speech, particularly political speech and on matters of public interest.” Frangopoulos claimed GB News would “continue to fearlessly champion freedom; for our viewers, for our listeners and for everyone in the United Kingdom. As we have all seen, this is needed more than ever”.