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More than 8,200 complaints about Monday’s version of ITV’s Good Morning Britain have been submitted to Ofcom, in response to the media regulator.
The complaints are targeted on two controversial interviews in the identical episode.
There have been accusations of a battle of curiosity, after presenter Ed Balls interviewed his spouse, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
And there was criticism of how Balls and co-host Kate Garraway questioned Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana.
ITV stated it thought of its interviews to be “balanced, fair and duly impartial”.
An Ofcom spokesperson stated: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
Both interviews associated to the wave of violent unrest that has damaged out in components of the UK over the previous week.
Following the interview with Cooper, Deadline reporter Jake Kanter stated it was “baffling it was allowed to happen”, whereas different viewers described the dynamic of the interview as “absurd” and “untenable”.
Balls, a former Labour minister, is now an everyday GMB presenter; Cooper, his spouse, was appointed residence secretary following the final election final 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, the Independent MP for Coventry South.
In the merchandise, Sultana, who beforehand sat as a Labour MP earlier than she had the whip suspended in July, stated the federal government ought to describe the riots as Islamophobic in addition to racist, and challenged Balls on an article he had beforehand written about immigration.
Writing afterwards on X, she stated: “The sneering contempt of ‘journalists’ will never stop me from calling out racism and Islamophobic hate.”
After the variety of complaints to Ofcom was revealed on Wednesday, she posted: “I appreciate the solidarity so much.”
Following Monday’s episode, an ITV spokesperson stated: “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.”
