Jon Gaunt Loses Legal Challenge To Ofcom Ruling

Jon Gaunt

Former UTV Sports-Talk TALKSPORT/LONDON host JON GAUNT has lost his legal case against U.K. radio regulator OFCOM over the ruling that led to his firing.  GAUNT, who moved on to host an online show for THE SUN, sued over the OFCOM JUNE 2009 ruling that his comments on a NOVEMBER 2008 show calling REDBRIDGE Council's MICHAEL STARK a "health Nazi" and an "ignorant pig" regarding the council's ban on smokers being foster parents were violations of the Broadcasting Code.

In its ruling, LONDON's High Court said that the agency had been justified in concluding that the material was in breach of the Code as likely to cause offense and not justified by its context.  GAUNT plans to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal. 

Neither GAUNT nor TALKSPORT were sanctioned for the broadcast, but GAUNT was fired by the station.

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