Jon Gaunt loses appeal against ‘Nazi’ slur on TalkSport

Broadcaster fails to overturn high court ruling that Ofcom was justified in upholding complaints about interview Jon Gaunt has lost his appeal against a high court ruling that media watchdog Ofcom was justified in upholding complaints about a TalkSport interview in which he called a local councillor a “Nazi”. Gaunt appealed after last year losing a high court freedom of expression challenge against Ofcom’s ruling that the interview breached its broadcasting code . However, three court of appeal judges have now rejected his appeal against the high court’s July 2010 decision. Gaunt’s contract was terminated by UTV-owned TalkSport in November 2008, 10 days after an exchange with councillor Michael Stark. He took legal action against Ofcom, with the backing of Liberty, claiming its decision breached article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and was an unlawful interference with his freedom of expression. During a hearing last month, the court of appeal was told that Gaunt’s live interview with Stark about Redbridge council’s decision to ban smokers from becoming foster parents – for which he later apologised – drew 53 complaints from listeners. Stark said the welfare of children should outweigh the needs of foster families but Gaunt, who was himself placed in care, accused the councillor of being a “Nazi”, a “health Nazi” and an “ignorant pig”. Gaunt later issued an on-air apology and clarified his comment, saying he meant to say “health Nazi”. Lord Neuberger said it was important to observe that the broadcasting code recognised that “offensive material or language will often be justifiable, but justifiability must be assessed by reference to the context”. “In summary, when one combines the extremely aggressive tone of the interview, the constant interruptions, the insults, the ranting, the consequent lack of any substantive content, and the time which the interview was allowed to run on, it seems to me clear that Ofcom was right to conclude that there had been a breach of … the code,” Neuberger added. It had been suggested that Ofcom attached too much weight and too much offensiveness to the “Nazi”, “health Nazi” and “ignorant pig” insults levied at Stark. But Neuberger said: “In my view, however, Ofcom quite correctly took those insults into account, but only as a factor among others which, when taken together, rendered the interview in breach of … the code.” By the time Ofcom’s finding was published, Gaunt had already been dismissed and there was no suggestion, said the judge, that “he has lost any particular work as a result of the finding”. “His reputation as a very hard-hitting journalist may mean that the finding has done him no damage, but, if it has, it does not only appear to be hard to identify, but it would be an inevitable consequence of any system of controlling broadcasts,” he added. “That point serves to underline the importance of anxiously scrutinising any curb on freedom of expression, but it goes no further than that, and anxious scrutiny is precisely what Ofcom gave the matter.” Ofcom issued its ruling against Gaunt in May 2009, saying the “persistently bullying and hectoring” interview “had the potential to cause offence to many listeners”. An Ofcom spokesman said: “We are pleased that the court of appeal has agreed with Ofcom that Jon Gaunt’s interview was a breach of the broadcasting code. “The court of appeal agreed that the interview had an extremely aggressive tone combined with constant interruptions, was full of insults, ranting, and lacked any substantive content and that it was a breach of generally accepted standards. “Parliament gave Ofcom a duty to ensure that whilst standards in programmes are maintained, the right to freedom of expression is also protected. Ofcom regularly makes decisions under the broadcasting code that respect and balance these principles.” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Jon Gaunt TalkSport Ofcom Media law Radio industry Jason Deans guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.