Broadcasters should air the opinion that trans women are women when covering transgender topics, the UK’s media watchdog has reportedly said.
Ofcom allegedly told GB News that transgender issues should not be seen as ‘settled’ despite the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that the legal definition of a woman should be based on their sex at birth.
The Telegraph say they have seen a letter from the watchdog where they tell the channel that broadcasters should potentially share the view that a woman could be someone who has been born a biological man.
GB News had reportedly written to Ofcom asking them to confirm that the ruling had cleared up any confusion over whether a person could be addressed by their biological sex rather than what they identify as.
The channel also allegedly asked Ofcom to confirm that broadcasters could refer to sports players by their biological pronoun and not gender identity.
The newspaper say GB News posed the point that the ruling had made it a ‘settled matter that a trans woman is not a biological female, and a trans man is not a biological male’.
The channel reportedly added: ‘Following the Supreme Court judgment we are of the view that (provided there is no deliberate intention to cause harm or offence), contributors should generally be able to use biological pronouns.’
However, the watchdog is said to have responded that the ruling should be contextualised in the Equality Act, suggesting that a person’s preferred choice of identity should instead be used on air.
Ofcom allegedly told GB News that transgender issues should not be seen as ‘settled’ despite the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that the legal definition of a woman should be based on their sex at birth
GB News had reportedly written to Ofcom asking them to confirm that the ruling had cleared up any confusion over whether a person could be addressed by their biological sex rather than what they identify as
GB News are said to have posed the point that the ruling had made it a ‘settled matter that a trans woman is not a biological female, and a trans man is not a biological male’
The newspaper went on to say that Ofcom labelled GB News’s propositions as ‘dogmatic’ and that the topics required ‘nuanced decision-making’.
Their response allegedly said that they did not follow the thought that the Supreme Court ruling had ‘settled’ wider debate about the ‘appropriate meaning, usage and effect of such terms in all contexts outside the scope of the Equality Act’.
They are alleged to have said that this includes ‘in broadcast programmes in which issues relating to sex and gender-based rights are discussed generally’, which they say ‘the judgment does not purport to do so’.
The Ofcom response reportedly continued to say that each broadcaster has a right to ‘freedom of expression’ as well as the ‘editorial discretion which uncontroversially accompanies the exercise of those rights on issues of significant public interest’.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: ‘Ofcom is a post-broadcast regulator.
‘In line with the rights of broadcasters and audiences to freedom of expression, our rules allow broadcasters editorial freedom to choose how to cover issues in their programmes subject to the Broadcasting Code.
‘Our assessment of whether content complies with the Broadcasting Code is always fact-specific and takes into account all relevant contextual factors, requiring nuanced decision-making, and not a “one size fits all” approach.’
MailOnline has approached GB News and Ofcom for comment.
