Mark Steyn and the free-speech question

James Delingpole and I had a blazing row on our weekly podcast on Monday. We were discussing the recent departure of Mark Steyn from GB News following a bust-up over his contract. Mark has been hosting a show on the channel for over a year, but took a break in December after suffering two heart attacks. When he was ready to return last month, GB News asked him to sign a contract which would have made his company liable for any fines imposed by Ofcom as a result of a ‘regulatory breach’ unless he and his producers agreed to ‘incorporate Ofcom regulatory input’ into the show. He refused and accused GB News of presenting him with a fait accompli that he couldn’t accept.

James thinks Mark is the victim of a ‘manifest injustice’ and I should be taking up the cudgels on his behalf, given that I think of myself a free-speech zealot. But I’m not convinced this is a free-speech issue, at least not yet.

Mark didn’t just challenge the prevailing orthodoxy; he beat it to a pulp and then tossed it out with the rubbish

First let’s deal with the question of whether GB News has breached Mark’s speech rights. I should begin by saying I think Mark’s a terrific broadcaster. One of the things which makes him so good is his unwillingness to bend the knee to anyone – he is absolutely fearless. That’s why The Mark Steyn Show, which I sometimes appeared on, was such compelling viewing and regularly beat other news channels in its time slot. When it came to the most controversial issues of the day – Covid vaccines, the war in Ukraine, net zero – he didn’t just challenge the prevailing orthodoxy; he beat it to a pulp and then tossed it out with the rubbish.