DJ Jon Gaunt loses appeal against Nazi jibe

Jon Gaunt has today lost his appeal against a high court ruling that Ofcom was right to censure him for an interview in which he called councillor Michael Stark a "Nazi".

Gaunt launched the appeal after a judicial review failed to overturn the media regulator's ruling that his 2008 interview on TalkSport breached the broadcasting code.

In a heated exchange with Stark about Redbridge Council's decision to prevent smokers from becoming foster parents, Gaunt accused the councillor of being a "Nazi", a "health Nazi" and an "ignorant pig".

Even though he apologised for the comments, Gaunt was sacked by TalkSport 10 days after the broadcast. He launched the appeal to try and clear his name, claiming that Ofcom wrongly challenged his freedom of expression.

However, three court of appeal judges today rejected the bid, and instead upheld the high court's July 2010 verdict in favour of Ofcom.

Gaunt had argued, with the backing of campaign group Liberty, that Ofcom's decision breached article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights as it was an unlawful interference with his freedom of expression.

Presiding over the appeal, Lord Neuberger rejected the notion. The Guardian quotes him as saying: "When one combines the extremely aggressive tone of the interview, the constant interruptions, the insults, the ranting, the consequent lack of any substantive content, and the time which the interview was allowed to run on, it seems to me clear that Ofcom was right to conclude that there had been a breach of... the code."

Lord Neuberger also noted that there was no suggestion Gaunt had "lost any particular work as a result of the finding", because it came after he had been dismissed by TalkSport.

"His reputation as a very hard-hitting journalist may mean that the finding has done him no damage, but, if it has, it does not only appear to be hard to identify, but it would be an inevitable consequence of any system of controlling broadcasts," the judge added.

"That point serves to underline the importance of anxiously scrutinising any curb on freedom of expression, but it goes no further than that, and anxious scrutiny is precisely what Ofcom gave the matter."

Reacting to verdict, an Ofcom spokesman said: "We are pleased that the court of appeal has agreed with Ofcom that Jon Gaunt's interview was a breach of the broadcasting code.

"The court of appeal agreed that the interview had an extremely aggressive tone combined with constant interruptions, was full of insults, ranting, and lacked any substantive content and that it was a breach of generally accepted standards."