HUMZA Yousaf has said GB News is a “racist media outlet” – and will consider his options for action against the channel, The National understands.
It comes after the former first minister was mentioned in a report from the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), which analysed two years of output from GB News.
It found that the channel had played down racism, “dressed [it] up as humour”, or allowed “divisive polemics” to go unchallenged, concluding ultimately that GB News is “an anti-Muslim hate channel”.
The report noted that conspiracy theories such as a "two-tier society" favouring Muslims and "Great Replacement Theory" were used by GB News to stoke division, not least around the far-right riots in England over the summer – during which it painted Muslims as perpetrators and not victims.
In a foreword to the report, Stewart Purvis, the former ITN chief executive and editor-in-chief, said Yousaf would have a “very strong case” against GB News should he complain to the media watchdog.
Purvis focused on a GB News segment presented by Patrick Christys on October 15 which saw him accuse the former SNP leader of “race-baiting”.
“I’m not sure Mr Christys is in a position to accuse anybody of ‘race-baiting’,” Purvis, a former Ofcom partner for content and standards, wrote.
“Mr Yousaf’s office has told me that neither he or the SNP was offered the chance to take part or a right to reply. If [Yousaf] were to complain under Ofcom regulation ‘Section 7 (Fairness)’ I believe he should have a very strong case."
A spokesperson for the former SNP leader said: “This report by the Centre for Media Monitoring confirms what we have all known to be true, GB News is an Islamophobic and racist media outlet designed to target Muslims, and other minorities.
“This is hardly surprising given its most prolific backer, Paul Marshall, had to delete social media posts highlighting his sympathies with extremist far-right conspiracy theorists.
“Humza has, for a number of years, warned of the mainstreaming of Islamophobia in our society. Propaganda outfits, such as GB News, who seek to sow division and fan the flames of racial and religious intolerance, must be confronted and held to account for the damaging content they produce.”
GB News has been approached for comment.
The channel previously issued a furious statement in response to the CfMM 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 why it 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.”
