Galloway has offered Gaunt out...

[faceless]

Jon Gaunt: 'I'm an antidote to the lefty consensus'
Jon Gaunt is a shock jock in shock. How could he be sacked for calling someone a Nazi? Ian Burrell meets the self-appointed spokesman of the politically dispossessed.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Nicky Hayes
Independent.co.uk

I am summoned to meet Jon Gaunt, Britain's most notorious talk radio presenter until he was fired last week. Though he is doing his best to embody the title of his battling-against-the-odds autobiography, Undaunted, he is clearly still stunned by the dismissal. He is a shock jock shocked.

It's an unlikely refuge for this self-styled voice of the dispossessed: a corner of the coffee lounge at the luxury Marriott Hotel County Hall, formerly home of the Greater London Council of Red Ken Livingstone and Paul Boateng, the kind of metropolitan lefties that move Gaunty to apoplexy. But then again there's a certain poignancy to having Big Ben across the river and a Salvador Dali exhibition next door, representing the bizarre mix of Gaunt's morning show on the national commercial network TalkSport, where politics merged seamlessly with surreality; where guests ranged from David Cameron (who came on four times) to Siddiqui Khan, aka "Sid", a taxi driver from St Albans and the programme's biggest fan.

It was an extraordinary conversation which came to an abrupt end this week when Gaunt, 47, was sacked, having been suspended 10 days earlier for calling Michael Stark, a councillor at the London Borough of Redbridge, a "Nazi" for supporting a ban on smokers from fostering children. The presenter, who is also a columnist for The Sun, is taking legal action over his dismissal. Alongside him are his agent and his legal adviser, Team Gaunt.

After taking charge of another glass of rioja, Gaunty tells the story of his axing, whispering into the tape recorder with a discretion that would surprise those who have imagined him in the studio in full rant with a globule of foam at each corner of his mouth. "When I found out I was shocked, amazed, bemused. I thought what would happen is that they'd say, 'We are now going to start a disciplinary process', at which I would have been allowed to have trade union representation, a colleague or my legal adviser. They just said 'We are terminating your contract'." This radio bombshell is about more than just Gaunty, he claims.

In the wake of the scandal that engulfed BBC Radio 2 after Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand's obscene phone prank, the entire broadcasting industry is frozen with fear. "All of that has fed into this feeding frenzy where, if we are not careful, cutting-edge radio is going to disappear," says Gaunt, observing with customary delicacy that "everyone has got squitty cheeks".

Gaunt sees himself as a man of destiny, born to represent the views of a section of society that he believes to be otherwise ignored by the media. Though he points out that his listeners include Olympic athletes and the owners of private banks, his audience is usually characterised as an army of white-van men. Some are probably aspirant white-van men. "I don't want to sound too grand but I think what my programme does is allow voices to get involved in the political process that no other station does in the country. That's why Newsnight comes to me and that's why I am invited on This Week [the BBC political television show hosted by Andrew Neil]."

He found his role in life after a period of deep despair in the early 1990s, when the alternative theatre company he ran in his home city of Coventry went bust. He would get up at midday, lie for hours in the bath and spend the rest of the day knocking back cheap lager from the off-licence. Then his wife Lisa persuaded him to gather up their loose change for a rare jaunt into town, where he met his old theatre friend Moz Dee. An impassioned Gaunty outburst persuaded Dee, who worked for the local BBC radio station, that a potential broadcaster stood before him. Fifteen years later, in a strange twist, Dee – now programme director at TalkSport – found himself having to tell Gaunt he was being suspended for the "Nazi" outburst.

"I laughed. I said 'Don't suspend me.' Cynically I said, 'It will bring more heat to the story, reprimand me, fine me, do whatever you want to do, there's no need for an investigation, listen to the tape'," says the presenter. "They ignored me. I'm bemused. I've got the biggest audience that they've ever had in that slot, I make them an awful lot of money in their competitions. I've got quite a high profile in the media. I've never been reprimanded, let alone sent a letter about my behaviour. I have been positively encouraged to be Gaunty."

Gaunt thinks that Scott Taunton, the managing director of UTV, the company that owns TalkSport, was not a fan of his work. "I've never spoken to Scott Taunton in the whole period I've been there. I've said hello to him and he might've mumbled hello back. He's never entered into a conversation with me," he moans.

The presenter thinks he could get another radio job "in days" but doesn't seem keen on working in the industry in the current climate. "I think there's a general fear, a general worry which is not good for British broadcasting, it's not good for democracy that broadcasters are worried because you are not going to get that sparky caller that might lead to the massive story or change people's attitudes," he says.

Like a recently bereaved parent, he talks of his show in the present tense. "I think I push the envelope and I attract an audience you don't hear on British radio anywhere else. I say it as it is, I'm honest and truthful and an antidote to the lefty, liberal consensus." He describes himself as "a big presenter, a big animal," and asks, with a customary lack of humility, "Why are they getting rid of Britain's best current affairs phone-in presenter? It's not as if they have got any replacements."

As Gaunt points out, he said sorry to Mr Stark on air and the object of his ire has accepted his apology, requesting that the debate be focused on the more serious issue of children in care. The presenter claims he was encouraged by TalkSport to court controversy. "I had 48 Ofcom complaints last year, 48 individual investigations, and none of those were upheld," he says. "My image was all about me being the most controversial presenter. I don't object to that because I enjoyed that as well, that notoriety. But at no point did they say to me 'Hey Jon, the 49th one might be the one that buggers us all, rein it in.' Nobody has ever told me to rein it in."

The exchange with Mr Stark struck his "Achilles heel", because Gaunt spent six weeks in care as a 12-year-old after his mother died from a brain haemorrhage. He was retrieved by an aunt from Hull who, he observes, was a smoker. He concedes that his treatment of the councillor overstepped the boundaries of acceptable broadcasting. But: "I don't regret the passion and I don't think I did anything extraordinary that day, I think I was just the same Jon Gaunt that my audience know and most of my participants know about."

He compares his treatment with that of Rod Lucas, who was also removed from the TalkSport presenting roster this week after appearing on a leaked BNP membership list. Lucas claims he joined the BNP for journalistic purposes. "And they've got rid of me just for calling someone a Nazi..." – and the shock jock's anger dissolves into laughter.

A talent to offend - the wit and wisdom of Gaunty

*To Councillor Michael Stark:
"So you are a Nazi ... You are an ignorant pig ... You are a health Nazi because you are suggesting that every smoker is a liar."

*On Sarah Palin:
"Don't you wish we had politicians like American Republican Sarah Palin instead of the identikit spineless amoebas that infest Westminster?"

*On Islamic dress:
"If you come to our country, you shouldn't wear the burka. When we go to Saudi Arabia, Lisa [Gaunt's wife] won't drive the car and she'll cover herself up."

*On Gordon Brown:
"Our unelected Prime Minister, the most unpopular leader since Pol Pot (he's certainly taken us back to year zero!) is now promoting himself as the only bloke who can sort out the mess. But hold on, as Chancellor for 10 years, shouldn't he have kept his one good eye on the banks?"

*On Cherie Blair:
"Cherie, of course we are all slaves to lawyers like you, who have got fat off the legal aid fund paid for by us that helps you to protect the monsters, beasts and terrorists who want to rape and molest our children and kill us. Taxi for Mrs Blair."

-----------------

I wonder if he is regretting his decision to have this interview? Then again, the arrogant fool probably thinks it's good!

[faceless]

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP BACKS SACKED PRESENTER
By Vicky Shaw,
Press Association Media Correspondent

Sacked radio presenter Jon Gaunt, who called a Conservative councillor a "Nazi" and an "ignorant pig" live on air, received backing from human rights group Liberty today.

Gaunt previously said he was "bemused" by Talksport radio's decision to sack him following an investigation into the remarks made earlier this month on his radio show. And Liberty said that democracy on the airwaves is poorer for Gaunt's absence.

In a letter sent to Talksport on behalf of Gaunt, Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti described the termination of his employment as a "bizarre and disproportionate approach to someone who was no doubt contracted to excite political debate amongst a whole host of listeners who might not normally engage with news and current affairs programmes".

She continued: "...whilst Mr Gaunt's style may not be to everyone's taste, it is our view that no reasonable listener could have construed his comments in context as accusing the subjects of involvement in or association with Nazism. From a personal point of view as someone who has been on the receiving end of Jon Gaunt's blunt polemic in print and on the radio, I believe that the airwaves of a great democracy would be the poorer for his absence. I urge you to reinstate Mr Gaunt's programme without delay and have offered him support in the unlikely and unfortunate event that recourse to the Human Rights Act proves necessary."

A spokesman from Talksport declined to comment today. Gaunt, whose controversial comments have drawn complaints to regulator Ofcom in the past, once called Ms Chakrabarti the "most dangerous woman in Britain," in his column for The Sun newspaper.

Liberty's backing for Gaunt follows last week's BBC Trust's report into the prank calls made by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand to Andrew Sachs on Brand's Radio 2 show. Brand quit and Ross was suspended. Ms Chakrabarti said: "Whilst we appreciate that recent weeks have been a delicate time for all broadcasters, we see Mr Gaunt's case as materially different from (the BBC case)."

-----------------

[nekokate]

Well done, Shami. This will have definitely pissed Gaunty off

"They came for the fat cunts, but I was not a fat cunt..."

[faceless]

This is Gaunt on today's Jeremy Vine show, along with Shami...

He calls talkSPORT talkSQUAWK - which is funny really because it always struck me as talkSQUEAK when he was on... (thengyouverymush)

[faceless]

he gave out talksport's number... haha

[Brown Sauce]

"Except you can already here Gaunt chatting to his special guest David Cameron." yup, that's about the size of it.

[faceless]

Ofcom's Jon Gaunt ruling deserves backing
Effective regulation of the media, independent and outside of the courts, is the other side of the libel reform coin
Carl Gardner
guardian.co.uk,
13 July 2010

Most of us would say there's no right not to be offended. Ofcom, the media regulator, agrees: the fact that material may be offensive to some is not, in itself, a breach of the broadcasting code, it said in its ruling last year in the case of the talk show host Jon Gaunt. But it went on to find Gaunt in breach of the code when, during an interview in November 2008 about Redbridge council's policy of using only non-smokers as foster carers, he called Councillor Michael Stark a "Nazi". Following the interview, the radio station TalkSport sacked Gaunt, who has now failed in his attempt, backed by Liberty, to challenge Ofcom's finding as a breach of his freedom of expression.

I agree with Liberty that TalkSport went over the top in sacking Gaunt. But it doesn't automatically follow that Ofcom's ruling breaches free speech. Outside the polarised world of the shock jock, things are not quite so simple. Unlike his former employers, Ofcom imposed no sanction on Gaunt. The finding was, simply, a finding that the broadcast failed to live up to generally accepted standards and that language used, together with Gaunt's bullying and hectoring of his guest, were unjustified in the context. Ofcom is the wrong target here, and I'm glad the judges have upheld its finding.

The real question is not whether it's OK to call someone a Nazi. I find that pretty outrageous unless you're actually dealing with someone whose views resemble Hitler's, but context matters, and I wouldn't want broadcasters to feel it could never be justified. The real question is whether or not we back effective media regulation. Because a cowed regulator, whose criticisms of the media are routinely vilified and subject to legal challenge may end up as toothless as the Press Complaints Commission.

Helena Kennedy was right, in last Friday's House of Lords debate on Lord Lester's defamation bill, to say that regulation is the other side of the coin of libel reform. One the one hand, we currently allow rich individuals and businesses to police the boundaries of free speech through the courts, and sometimes to succeed in silencing important investigations. On the other, no effective means exists whereby ordinary readers can hold the press to account for its failures to meet the most basic of standards, as in the case of Jan Moir's controversial Daily Mail article about Stephen Gately.

Of course, we could simply throw all standards out of the window and argue that freedom means the media should be able to say anything about anyone, regardless. That wouldn't be real freedom of expression, though, any more than an unlimited choice of screaming talking heads would represent real media choice. I prefer the approach laid down by the European convention on human rights, which accepts that freedom of expression is not absolute, but brings with it some duties and responsibilities.

Instead of subjecting serious, responsible journalists to prohibitive costs for defending reports that serve the public interest, freedom of speech would be better defended by taking these issues out of the courts, to be adjudicated on, without prior restraint, by a truly independent regulator accessible to all, applying flexible standards and offering non-financial forms of redress. That's exactly the sort of system Ofcom offers.

If we want to, we can move away from a system that favours the rich over the best of the media and the worst of the media over the public, and choose instead a framework that protects and promotes genuine freedom of expression. The means is effective, independent regulation. We should back it, and Ofcom's ruling on Jon Gaunt.

--------------------

What bullshit it is to say that people don't have a right not to be offended. It is a crime to call someone a name based on their race, with the crime becoming a crime if the victim reports it as such; so what's that if not the right not to be offended?

Maybe they should just modify the rules to block people from simply being an arsehole? I doubt there's any jury in the land who wouldn't agree that Gaunt is an arsehole.