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https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...ims-mark-steyn
GB News breached impartiality rules when the presenter Mark Steyn used official health data to draw misleading conclusions about the Covid-19 booster that “materially misled” the audience, the media regulator has found.
Ofcom said Steyn used UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data in a broadcast on 21 April last year to wrongly claim the figures provided evidence that a third booster was causing higher infection, hospitalisation and deaths.
The investigation was launched in July 2022 after the watchdog received four complaints from viewers who said the presenter had made “dangerous” and “fatally flawed conclusions”. Steyn was previously one of the TV channel’s leading presenters before resigning last month after it demanded he personally pay the fines issued if found in breach of the broadcasting code.
Ofcom said Steyn’s comparison of similar-sized groups who had and had not received the third Covid vaccine was “misleading” for only drawing one conclusion from the comparison and not taking into account the differences in age or health of the individuals in the two groups. It said the programme failed to reflect the official UKHSA reports that said conclusions surrounding vaccine efficacy should not be drawn from raw data.
“Overall, we concluded that this factual programme may have resulted in viewers making important decisions about their health, and it was therefore potentially harmful and materially misleading,” the regulator said of the breach.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...ims-mark-steyn
GB News breached impartiality rules when the presenter Mark Steyn used official health data to draw misleading conclusions about the Covid-19 booster that “materially misled” the audience, the media regulator has found.
Ofcom said Steyn used UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data in a broadcast on 21 April last year to wrongly claim the figures provided evidence that a third booster was causing higher infection, hospitalisation and deaths.
The investigation was launched in July 2022 after the watchdog received four complaints from viewers who said the presenter had made “dangerous” and “fatally flawed conclusions”. Steyn was previously one of the TV channel’s leading presenters before resigning last month after it demanded he personally pay the fines issued if found in breach of the broadcasting code.
Ofcom said Steyn’s comparison of similar-sized groups who had and had not received the third Covid vaccine was “misleading” for only drawing one conclusion from the comparison and not taking into account the differences in age or health of the individuals in the two groups. It said the programme failed to reflect the official UKHSA reports that said conclusions surrounding vaccine efficacy should not be drawn from raw data.
“Overall, we concluded that this factual programme may have resulted in viewers making important decisions about their health, and it was therefore potentially harmful and materially misleading,” the regulator said of the breach.
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