GB News: Launch

[AllWillBeWell]

If they’re going to bang on about taking the knee all day every day it’s going to get tedious very quickly

With respect, the mainstream media has been going on about taking the knee for over a year.

[Brekkie]

I do wonder if they're going to regret putting the word "news" in the title? It seems to be setting themselves up for a fall with the Ofcom Programme Code.

5.9: 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

My emphasis

I wouldn't be surprised at a rebrand to GBN or GB Live and a move to the entertainment section. Presumably reclassifying the channel would mean not quite so stringent rules, not that they're following them anyway.

[johnnyboy]

I do wonder if they're going to regret putting the word "news" in the title? It seems to be setting themselves up for a fall with the Ofcom Programme Code.

5.9: 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

My emphasis

I wouldn't be surprised at a rebrand to GBN or GB Live and a move to the entertainment section. Presumably reclassifying the channel would mean not quite so stringent rules, not that they're following them anyway.

TBH, even though it's early days, I'm not convinced this format will work without major tweaking.

I think you might be onto something here as, if they added a heavy emphasis on entertainment news, they might broaden their appeal to different audiences.

[TIGHazard]

At least they use the Met Office for weather data, unlike the BBC, and I've yet to see a single spelling mistake.

They misspelt Hawick as Harwick at one point, but that's about it.

Watched a bit more this morning.

There seemed to be little to no natural chemistry between the presenters this morning. They seem to miss each other's conversational queues and end up talking over one another.

But I do have to agree with AllWillBeWell's assessment that, if Twitter hates it, it has a good chance of being a success.

Twitter is the preserve of a few loons whose understanding of and contempt for Joe and Jane Public is immense. The language and tone of the nutters on there is awful the few times I've sampled the political debate on the platform.

Remember Jezza Corybn's landslide as the queues mounted outside poll stations in Dec 2019? No, neither do I but the Twitterati seemed genuinely convinced it would happen.

I feel then that surely GB News is barking up the wrong tree.

There is a growing trend of finding some small example and claiming it represents a whole group of people. This could be one individual who got in trouble for not being 'woke' at work, or could be local press claiming huge public backlash to a council decision based off a couple of random tweeters with 3 followers.

Always be sceptical of any news organisation which uses isolated, tiny examples to claim a larger trend is happening across the country.

[all new Phil]

There’s quite a jarring difference between the experienced presenters and those who have clearly never really presented anything.

I think Brazier & Muroki is working a bit better, bouncing around to different interviewees. What I saw of the breakfast show felt very flat, with 3 presenters trying to drag out discussions between themselves beyond what felt natural.

I’d say it needs a proper news update to give some structure and a starting point for discussion. It’s very much missing the promised liveliness as well.

[soupie]

Well done to Rosie for finding one of the darkest and also noisy places in Scotland to do her live

[peterrocket]

Maybe the monitor brightness in the gallery is ramped up to the max so they can't see just how dark some of the output is, even on a live hit.

Either that or no one has explained Iris and Gain to the camera person.

[johnnyboy]

I feel then that surely GB News is barking up the wrong tree.

There is a growing trend of finding some small example and claiming it represents a whole group of people. This could be one individual who got in trouble for not being 'woke' at work, or could be local press claiming huge public backlash to a council decision based off a couple of random tweeters with 3 followers.

Always be sceptical of any news organisation which uses isolated, tiny examples to claim a larger trend is happening across the country.

I take your point. Personally, I detest Twitter because it's so uncivil and so impolite but I guess the combination of keyboard warriors and a 280-character maximum force that.

However, as an observer, certain "pressure groups" have an ability to sway the agenda in the outside world a lot better than others. They're very organised and very articulate in their fury.

What's interesting in the papers this morning is how GB News is been lauded as a success on Twitter according to the Daily Mail but, when you log in yourself and have a look at it, all the comments are from the permanently-offended about Andrew Neil living in France, foreign financial backing for the channel, and other such "issues".

[eyeTV]

The audio is still out of sync on Freeview.

[AllWillBeWell]

At least they use the Met Office for weather data, unlike the BBC, and I've yet to see a single spelling mistake.

They misspelt Hawick as Harwick at one point, but that's about it.

Watched a bit more this morning.

There seemed to be little to no natural chemistry between the presenters this morning. They seem to miss each other's conversational queues and end up talking over one another.

But I do have to agree with AllWillBeWell's assessment that, if Twitter hates it, it has a good chance of being a success.

Twitter is the preserve of a few loons whose understanding of and contempt for Joe and Jane Public is immense. The language and tone of the nutters on there is awful the few times I've sampled the political debate on the platform.

Remember Jezza Corybn's landslide as the queues mounted outside poll stations in Dec 2019? No, neither do I but the Twitterati seemed genuinely convinced it would happen.

I feel then that surely GB News is barking up the wrong tree.

There is a growing trend of finding some small example and claiming it represents a whole group of people. This could be one individual who got in trouble for not being 'woke' at work, or could be local press claiming huge public backlash to a council decision based off a couple of random tweeters with 3 followers.

Always be sceptical of any news organisation which uses isolated, tiny examples to claim a larger trend is happening across the country.

I think what tends to happen these days is that a company etc for example, will change their whole policy on something based on a couple of thousand tweets. Despite millions not even caring about the thing which caused the tweets in the first place. The point is that organisations today assume or use twitter storms to justify changes which they make.

GB news would surely be going after such changes because they effect millions of people, it isn't directly about the small number on twitter who caused the storm in the first place, but the outcome on us all and the organisations that make these changes or try to dictate to vast numbers of their customers, again based on a small number of tweets. Not to mention, the media themselves use these storms to write up articles and try to claim vast numbers in the country feel the same.

[scottishtv]

I'd say it needs a proper news update to give some structure and a starting point for discussion. It’s very much missing the promised liveliness as well.

I do think they should do some form of news summary or something for breakfast. I know they want to cover what no-one else is, but it's quite disorientating to watch. Kirsty claiming "The score should be making the headlines but instead taking the knee is what people are talking about after the England game"... I mean, the score is the headline nearly everywhere. I'm sure if you walked into an English newsagents today the papers would have it on their front pages somewhere (as well as the back), regardless of their editorial position.

Some sort of set/lighting changes would be nice to differentiate things at breakfast.

[IanJRedman]

Considering who's backing this channel, I'd expected the technical output to be - at the very least - competent. It isn't. I've seen Local TV do better...

[Ash101]

I’d say it needs a proper news update to give some structure and a starting point for discussion. It’s very much missing the promised liveliness as well.

Totally agree with this. Obviously slightly different as it's part of station agreements on FM, but LBC (and even TalkRadio) has hourly/half past updates throughout the day.

I struggle to see how this is a 'news' channel. I don't actually know what is going on in the world by watching this morning? I don't feel up to date on 'news' but have watched plenty of 'discussion' on topics they've selected...

[TomJ]

Twitter is the preserve of a few loons whose understanding of and contempt for Joe and Jane Public is immense. The language and tone of the nutters on there is awful the few times I've sampled the political debate on the platform.

Interesting choice to convey your dismay at the language and tone people use on Twitter by using language that is deeply hurtful to people with mental illness, and perpetuates the stigma we face every day.

[johnnyboy]

It could also do with a 4-5 minute explainer piece before a new discussion topic is launched to break up the hour.