Good Morning Britain episode prompts 8,200 complaintson August 7, 2024 at 12:45 pm

More than 8,200 complaints about Monday’s edition of ITV’s Good Morning Britain have been submitted to Ofcom, according to the media regulator.

The complaints are focused on two controversial interviews in the same episode.

There were accusations of a conflict of interest, after presenter Ed Balls interviewed his wife, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

And there was criticism of how Balls and co-host Kate Garraway questioned Labour MP Zarah Sultana.

ITV said it considered its interviews to be “balanced, fair and duly impartial”.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”

Both interviews related to the wave of violent unrest that has broken out in parts of the UK over the past week.

Following the interview with Cooper, Deadline reporter Jake Kanter said it was “baffling it was allowed to happen”, while other viewers described the dynamic of the interview as “absurd” and “untenable”.

Balls, a former Labour minister, is now a regular GMB presenter; Cooper, his wife, was appointed home secretary following the general election last month. They have been married since 1998.

In an earlier debate on the programme on Monday, there was a testy interview with Balls, Garraway and Sultana, MP for Coventry South.

In the item, Sultana said the government should describe the riots as Islamophobic as well as racist, and challenged Balls on an article he had previously written about immigration.

Writing afterwards on X, she said: “The sneering contempt of ‘journalists’ will never stop me from calling out racism and Islamophobic hate.”

After the number of complaints to Ofcom was published on Wednesday, she posted: “I appreciate the solidarity so much.”

Following Monday’s episode, an ITV spokesperson said: “Following a weekend of rioting and national unrest, GMB featured a range of interviews and discussion around this national emergency on today’s programme.

“[These] included James Cleverly, Shadow Home Secretary and Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary.

“We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial.”