The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, is set to investigate allegations of climate change denial in TV and radio broadcasts, marking only its second such inquiry in nearly two decades. Since 2020, the agency has received over 1,200 complaints, as reported by a government public attitudes tracker. These complaints, particularly targeting Talk broadcasts, were filed by the organization Stop Funding Heat.
Initially, Ofcom dismissed these complaints but reversed its stance following pressure from the Good Law Project (GLP). The GLP had threatened legal action in January unless Ofcom initiated investigations into the broadcasts.
Pseudoscience
In response to the GLP’s public appeal, over 15,000 emails were sent to Ofcom, leading the regulator to reassess its stance on “due impartiality” in the broadcasts. According to The Guardian, one complaint involved a Talk guest’s November remarks suggesting climate change was “a deliberate effort to create fake anxiety … out of something that is false.”
Ofcom has also launched a second inquiry into another November broadcast where a guest described the Labour government’s energy policies as “suicidal,” “driven by pseudoscience in many cases,” and akin to “cultish behaviour.” Additionally, the regulator is examining a complaint concerning the use of gender-neutral language in the court system.
Misleadingness
Beyond the GLP’s correspondence, Ofcom has started a fourth investigation into a Talk programme, following a viewer’s complaint about a discussion on UK energy production and consumption and the government’s energy and Net Zero policies. Despite these actions, Ofcom decided not to pursue three other climate-related complaints.
A GLP spokesperson commented, “This sends a clear message: TalkTV can’t get away with broadcasting lies to fuel their agenda. We’ll be watching closely, to make sure that Ofcom doesn’t let TalkTV off the hook again.” In a statement, Ofcom said, “In re-examining the programmes, we concluded that they raise potentially substantive issues under the broadcasting code which warrant investigation. We have, therefore, opened investigations [on] whether they breached our rules on due impartiality and material misleadingness.” A spokesperson for Talk expressed their intention to cooperate with Ofcom as always.
Enforcement
According to the GLP, Ofcom has addressed only two climate change broadcasts in the past two decades, once in 2007 and again in 2017. Earlier this year, during an exchange with the Net Zero Committee in Parliament, Ofcom highlighted broadcasters’ adherence to environmental regulations. Laura Rhea, Ofcom’s director of standards and audience protection, responded to Labour MP Bill Esterton’s inquiry about the lack of action on over 1,200 climate complaints since 2020, stating that every complaint was thoroughly assessed. “The fact that there have been no investigations I think probably speak to the fact that broadcasters that we regulate have a good understanding of the code and that they are complying broadly with our rules,” she explained.
A GLP spokesperson countered, “Our view is that the reason there had been no investigations into climate misinformation for many years is not because of compliance by broadcasters, but because of failures by Ofcom to enforce its rules.”
This Author
Catherine Early serves as the chief reporter for The Ecologist and is a freelance environmental journalist. Connect with her on Bluesky @catearly.bsky.social.
