Piers Morgan has slammed Ofcom over its ruling he broke broadcasting guidelines during a ‘Good Morning Britain’ interview with a homeless SAS hero.
The presenter was furious after discovering the media regulator had upheld complaints against the ITV breakfast show for not reading out a council’s response to the item.
Homeless ex-military man Bob Curry appeared on the show on 22 January, after a petition was launched to get Herefordshire County Council to provide him with social housing, following a battle with the local authority.
At the end of the interview, Piers told the council to “stick your statements”, saying he “couldn’t be bothered” to read out their reply.
Herefordshire Council subsequently contacted Ofcom to complain that the case had not been fairly represented, with the regulator now ruling in their favour.
Piers took to Twitter to slam the decision, writing: “Ridiculous @Ofcom ruling.
“Why should I read out bullsh*t self-serving statements from a council that failed to house a homeless SAS hero until we bullied them into doing it?”
Ofcom had said in a statement: “In our view, the programme focused on Mr Curry’s version of events and therefore, Mr Morgan’s decision to dismiss the Council’s statement outright and not read it, or to reflect in summary what it said in response, meant that at no point in this programme was the council’s view reflected.
“As a consequence, we considered that viewers were not provided with an opportunity to understand the council’s position and that this had the clear potential to materially and adversely affect viewers’ opinions of the council in a way that was unfair.”
After the initial complaint was made, ITV said Herefordshire County Council’s statement did not give specific reference to Mr Curry’s case, but “was provided to presenters as part of their briefing for the interview, for inclusion in the story”.
They pointed out Piers’ decision not to read it out was “entirely unscripted and spontaneous”, and should be considered in the broader context of the interview.
‘Good Morning Britain’ airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
