Channel 4 cleared of bias for replacing PM with ice block in debate

Tories complained to Ofcom that broadcast breached due impartiality rules, alleging pattern of bias at channel

Jim Waterson Media editor
Tue 3 Dec 2019 12.39 GMT
Last modified on Tue 3 Dec 2019 17.10 GMT

Channel 4 has been cleared of bias by the media regulator after replacing Boris Johnson with a melting block of ice during last week’s leadership debate on the climate crisis.

The Conservatives had complained to Ofcom that last week’s broadcast broke strict broadcasting impartiality rules after Channel 4 News refused to accept the former environment secretary Michael Gove as a stand-in for the prime minister in the seven-way debate.

Gove then attempted to argue his way on to the programme, in a move that largely overshadowed the actual substance of the debate about the future of the planet.

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Ofcom ruled that it was perfectly fair to insist only Johnson could represent the Conservatives given “other participants had only agreed to attend on the basis that they would be debating against other leaders”.

They also concluded the decision to replace Johnson – and the Brexit party leader Nigel Farage – with an ice sculpture did not breach due impartiality rules. Ofcom concluded this was a “relatively low-key” way of empty-chairing the politicians – hinting it could have taken a different view if, as had been suggested in advance, the ice sculptures had been carved in the shape of the politicians.

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