Day 1 really was the beginning of the end for GBN and Andrew Neil. You can't have their main talent on at 8pm proclaiming that it wouldn't be an outlet for conspiracy theorists and then at 9pm Dan Wootton does the complete opposite, then after two weeks, Neil goes off-air and they hire Nigel Farage and allowing transphobes to voice their opinion.
I think they tried too hard to go down the talkRADIO route and proving that conservative talk is better suited to radio, while News UK have seen disaster after disaster with that channel have gone for a broader small 'c' talk channel instead of going for news with a niche Conservative format as not every single right-winger is wound up about "cancel culture", immigration or gender critical topics.
Re the OFCOM issues - wasn't there the reported issue they had in introducing news bulletins, in that they would need to be "reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality", and separated from the opinionated remainder of the content. This implied that OFCOM was less worried where items are clearly opinion, but these have to be separated from any news content. This doesn't seem to be entirely in accordance with the rules, but that seems to be the underlying requirement today. For example the rules state:
Quote:Presenters and reporters (with the exception of news presenters and reporters in news programmes), presenters of “personal view” or “authored” programmes or items, and chairs of discussion programmes may express their own views on matters of political or industrial controversy or matters relating to current public policy. However, alternative viewpoints must be adequately represented either in the programme, or in a series of programmes taken as a whole.
London Lite post_id=40681 time= user_id=953 Wrote:Day 1 really was the beginning of the end for GBN and Andrew Neil. You can't have their main talent on at 8pm proclaiming that it wouldn't be an outlet for conspiracy theorists and then at 9pm Dan Wootton does the complete opposite, then after two weeks, Neil goes off-air and they hire Nigel Farage and allowing transphobes to voice their opinion.
I think they tried too hard to go down the talkRADIO route and proving that conservative talk is better suited to radio, while News UK have seen disaster after disaster with that channel have gone for a broader small 'c' talk channel instead of going for news with a niche Conservative format as not every single right-winger is wound up about "cancel culture", immigration or gender critical topics.
Even on radio, Conservative Talk is a dying format. The audience for it isn't young enough to attract good advertisers anymore. And the whole format seems to be stuck in a 1950s mindset, and the world has moved on and is leaving that mindset further and further behind. GB News was always going to be in for a tough time selling that kind of content today. If the format isn't going to die completely, it has to evolve, and right now, it's showing no signs of doing that.
I think a bigger issue is on being right leaning is, they’ve not got much to take aim at. A right wing government that’s anti-immigration and not into ‘being woke’ is in power politically, despite most people voting for left of centre parties.
So what have they really got to rally against?
There are legitimate conversations to have on things like gender issues and BBC funding, but they’re both very niche subjects and there are so many times you can hear the same debate without it getting tedious.
Combine all that with poor packaging, which it will always have a reputation for regardless of how much they might fix things. It doesn’t have much hope.
The thing is about getting other UKIP/Brexit party types in, it doesn’t automatically translate to more viewers. Farage is a one off, there is already lots of similarly minded people on that channel but they aren’t pulling in the numbers.
thecorrector post_id=40670 time= user_id=1692 Wrote:TVViewer256 post_id=40637 time= user_id=1039 Wrote:thecorrector post_id=40631 time= user_id=1692 Wrote:Latest Guardian piece on GBN suggests that:
- Neil had signed a £700k, four-year contract but agreed to take no payment whatsoever in the end just to get out, while Angelos Frangopoulos allegedly threatened to sue him
- Other presenters are earning up to £200k a year, some of whom could be replaced by right-wing YouTubers
- Simon McCoy continues to be desperately unhappy
- Ex-UKIP MEP Patrick O’Flynn may be tapped up to come in and run the channel
- Some staff have unsurprisingly already made enquiries about joining talkTV
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/s...om-gb-news
Whilst undoubtedly some of this may be true, the Guardian hasn't exactly got a perfect track record on the goings-on at GB News so I'd take it with a pinch of salt.
What has the Guardian got wrong in its reporting of GBN? Jim Waterson is very well-connected and it seems like you resent any criticism of the channel.
EDIT: As far as Martin Daubney goes, he was described as a “potential presenter” - the paper never claimed he was a cert to join.
I don't resent criticism of the channel - I just don't think that we should take everything that a paper gets from 'insiders' as gospel.
Jon post_id=40658 time= user_id=1050 Wrote:Fluffy Bunny Feet post_id=40657 time= user_id=1311 Wrote:Inspector Sands post_id=40656 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:By the way, whatever happened with GB News' radio station? That's gone oddly quiet, they've had the slot, or it's at least been ready for them since July and a September launch was expected
I always thought GBN will go down the Youtube route like LBC too, but as you say no sign of it yet.
I don’t understand this, GBN is on YouTube like LBC. It’s just not on radio like LBC.
There's nothing worse than hearing content that's been produced for TV, ending up on the radio. Proper broadcasters like ITN and the Beeb have tried it, and it simply doesn't work. GB News don't have any headroom to properly produce TV content, never mind radio as a bolt-on service
Inspector Sands post_id=40656 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:By the way, whatever happened with GB News' radio station? That's gone oddly quiet, they've had the slot, or it's at least been ready for them since July and a September launch was expected
With their tv presentation going absolutely terrible I am of the opinion that is probably not going to happen now but I have been wrong before.
Nana Akua's show used a mix of the soft sofa area and the breakfast bar today.
Rosie Wright seems to have moved into a cover role, presenting Breakfast on Friday with Paul Hawkins and a reporting role on Thursday morning, totally sidelined.
Still not as bad as Becca Hutson who seems to only be used on-air now as the token 'leftie' on Tonight Live.
Given GBN’s national TV audience is often smaller than that of a local radio station, I wonder if they’ve realised attracting radio advertising might prove very challenging for what will almost certainly be an even smaller audience.
Plus, you add in the reluctance of some advertisers to be associated with the channel, and it would seem establishing a radio channel, even a simulcast of the TV, might be a very tall order. And it’s not like they’re part of a group or family of stations where advertising can be spread across a number of outlets to make it worthwhile for the advertisers.
Anyone would think they’ve not really thought it through.
A seemingly tucked away Youtube interview with Simon McCoy recorded a few weeks ago where he goes into some detail about his reasons for leaving BBC News (starts at 15:30 in) as well as what it was like working there during Covid amongst other things.
Some other take away points:
- Work started on the GB News studio, set and gallery construction around a month and a half prior to the launch date (which is what we all suspected, so no wonder there's been so many technical problems)
- Simon mentions that he'd like to see the channel promote itself more and finds it bizarre that it hasn't happened yet (mentions that so few people are watching it too!)
- He would like to do some radio
- He'd like to do his own talk/chat show similar to what he did on Sky News
- GB News was like Sky News when it launched, 'but without the fun'.
https://youtu.be/U6MMlm2op4s
From this video it sound like Simon wanted to move to breakfast with Kirsty.
Somebody may well be able to explain why but I'm not sure why GB News were in such a rush to launch. If they only started to construct the set, gallery etc in April/May surely they should've taken far longer to launch. And if it was because of a channel licence requirement you'd have waited to get the licence.
It's not as if there was any particular need to launch in summer - many viewers (including some from the audience that might have watched GB News) would've been watching Euro 2020, Wimbledon, The Olympics or The Lions instead so ratings for news even by normal standards would be low. Surely give yourselves more time, iron out any difficulties and launch in the autumn?
bfgarmy post_id=40846 time= user_id=977 Wrote:Somebody may well be able to explain why but I'm not sure why GB News were in such a rush to launch. If they only started to construct the set, gallery etc in April/May surely they should've taken far longer to launch. And if it was because of a channel licence requirement you'd have waited to get the licence.
It's not as if there was any particular need to launch in summer - many viewers (including some from the audience that might have watched GB News) would've been watching Euro 2020, Wimbledon, The Olympics or The Lions instead so ratings for news even by normal standards would be low. Surely give yourselves more time, iron out any difficulties and launch in the autumn?
This is what we all thought at the time (I'm sure you did, too). A very weird time for launch when actually, things would be going a lot better if they'd waited until September. I remember seeing a picture of some presenters rehearsing around a boardroom-style table just a couple of weeks before launch as the set wasn't ready. It's a mystery as to why they didn't wait.
Also, Free Speech Nation has a live audience tonight. Will be interesting to see how it pans out. Very possible that they got the idea from 'Gutfeld' on Fox.
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/143965...33540?s=20
The audience jus does not make it look like a news channel it makes it look like a chit chat daytime show with all the applauses and cheering, I don’t know what this channel has come to. I get the idea of the audience but GBN are just getting it wrong.