20,000 urge Ofcom to take action over transphobia on TalkTV
– 1 min read
Twenty thousand complaints will be delivered to Ofcom next week after Good Law Project launched an online tool for people to complain about TalkTV’s alleged breaches of broadcasting laws by allowing transphobic commentary to go unchallenged.
A Good Law Project investigation found that in a four week period, between 16 June and 14 July, TalkTV’s programmes gave a platform to four hosts and 11 guests who expressed anti-trans views, without inviting a single guest to provide an opposing perspective and support the trans community.
On 21 June, Alex Phillips suggested that trans rights groups know that “giving children puberty blockers was evil”, while ten days later Kevin O’Sullivan accused a trans woman of wanting to “pretend that he’s a female”. And on 9 July, Julia Hartley-Brewer claimed that “by definition, if you’ve had to get a piece of paper to say that you are a woman, you must accept then that you are a man”.
According to Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code, channels must show “due impartiality” when talking about subjects of “political controversy” and “current public policy”.
Good Law Project has filed a formal complaint to Ofcom accusing TalkTV of repeated breaches of broadcasting law. The legal campaigning organisation has also launched an online tool for supporters to add their own complaints.
A previous campaign saw 70,000 people join Good Law Project to complain to the regulator about homophobic comments made by the GB News presenter, Josh Howie, on the Headliners programme, which has since been taken off-air.
Good Law Project’s Head of Campaigns, Agustina Oliveri, said: “20,000 have joined us in the space of a week to call for action against anti-trans hate on TalkTV. In its desperate attempt to emulate Fox News, Murdoch’s channel has amplified these views without challenge.
“This is unlawful and Ofcom must now stop sitting on its hands and act on the back of the deluge of complaints coming its way”.
