Fox News breaks UK impartiality broadcasting rules

US programmes Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight breached rules and Ofcom will publish the rulings despite Fox News no longer airing in the UK.

Fox News was pulled from British televisions in August because it averaged "only a few thousand viewers across the day in the UK" and was not of "commercial interest," according to a Fox spokeswoman.

Ofcom is publishing the rulings "to ensure there is a complete compliance record and to facilitate public understanding of the code".

The episode of Hannity aired on January 31 and was found to breach rules 5.9, 5.11 and 5.12.

The opening monologue showed video of members of the public criticising US President Donald Trump's travel ban.

But the regulator said they were "repeatedly dismissed or ridiculed by the presenter (Sean Hannity) without sufficient opportunity for the contributors to challenge or otherwise respond to the criticism directed at them".

Sean Hannity, 55, also let "enthusiastic support" for Trump and the travel ban be shown.

"Ofcom acknowledged that viewers were likely to expect Hannity to address controversial issues from a perspective that is generally more supportive of the US Republican party," Ofcom's ruling conclusion said.

"However, the likely audience expectations did not provide sufficient contextual justification to outweigh the numerous highly critical statements made about people who had opposed the order."

The episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight aired on May 25 and accused British authorities of failing at counter-terrorism and failing to protect "thousands of underage girls" in the wake of the shocking Manchester Arena terror attack after the Ariana Grande concert.

The programme claimed that political correctness stopped the attack from being prevented and that the government are "totalitarian" and "wicked".

Ofcom declared rules 5.9, 5.11 and 5.12 of the British broadcasting code were broken and concluded that "no reflection of the views of the UK government or any of the authorities or people criticised" were on display and that none of the contributors' views was challenged.

Fox are yet to comment.

The news is believed to be a setback for the Murdoch family's hopes of taking full ownership of Sky.

Murdoch company 21st Century Fox is attempting to purchase 61% of Sky in a deal worth £11.7bn ($8.9bn).