Tell your MP to help fix Ofcom.

The regulator isn’t regulating properly – and it’s letting toxic media run rampant.

It’s time for MPs to step up and use their parliamentary powers to make Ofcom fit for purpose.

Over the past five years, Ofcom has approached its statutory duties as the UK’s broadcasting regulator with increasing neglect. The result? Toxic channels like GB News and Talk TV have been enabled to spread, and profit from, egregious hate, misinformation, and climate lies with impunity.

This is an outright failure by Ofcom to the job it’s been tasked with by Parliament – and evidence of its inability to function is mounting.

A recent investigation led by the former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has revealed concerning patterns in the regulator’s inadequacy, including the seemingly special treatment given to GB News.

It’s only after major pressure from Stop Funding Heat and Good Law Project supporters that Ofcom has opened new investigations into climate misinformation in UK media – for the first time in 9 years. This is despite over 1,000 climate complaints being made to Ofcom since 2020.

Just as the country is in dire need of a regulator that acts robustly and with speed, Ofcom is asleep at the wheel. The regulator acts with chronic infrequency on “unabashedly partisan” lies, misinformation and propaganda, thinly disguised as “news media”.

With the appointment of a new Ofcom Chair, we have a chance to work together to renew Ofcom’s commitment to protect the public from harmful media.

It’s time for our MPs to kickstart a sustained, systemic effort to fix Ofcom before things get worse.

What we're calling for

We’re therefore calling on MPs to write to Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (formerly DCMS), asking her to:

Launch an investigation into Ofcom’s failure to enforce its broadcasting code
Call in Ofcom’s leadership to question them about the evidence in the Rusbridger report
Press for a commitment from Ofcom’s leadership to act more quickly and robustly when its code is breached

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Find and email your MP

1,818 people have emailed their MP - add your voice and join the in fixing the UK's broken media system

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Here is our suggested email template. If you have a few minutes, please feel free to personalise it before sending.

Your message

Dear {mp_name},

I am writing as a constituent in {constituency} ({postcode}), because I have deep concerns about Ofcom’s failure to enforce its own rules as the UK’s broadcasting regulator.

Despite Ofcom having a clear broadcasting code that should keep toxic media in check, channels like GB News, Talk TV and Talk Radio continue to air harmful content, misinformation and inaccurate climate reporting with almost complete impunity – even when they are found to have breached the code.

This is a critical time to take action. We’re facing a global disinformation crisis, where toxic messages and dangerous falsehoods can spread to millions. Despite Ofcom having a clear broadcasting code, channels like GB News, Talk TV and Talk Radio continue to breach it with near impunity. This has led Ofcom's own founding Director of Standards to accuse the regulator of having 'abandoned any pretence that meaningful regulation of broadcast content is still being maintained'.

You need only look at the most recent, in-depth investigation by 20 senior journalists led by former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, which exposed Ofcom’s systemic failure to uphold its own rules amid repeated breaches by GB News.

As your constituent, I'm therefore asking you to write to Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (formerly DCMS), urging her to:
• Launch an investigation into Ofcom’s failure to enforce its broadcasting code
• Call in Ofcom’s leadership to question them about the evidence in the Rusbridger report
• Press for a commitment from Ofcom’s leadership to act more quickly and robustly when its code is breached

Now, with the appointment of a new Ofcom Chair, there is an opportunity to make sure the media regulator is fit for purpose. Please use your position to help us get there.

Thank you.

{name}

Tell your MP to help fix Ofcom