GB News - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: GB News (/showthread.php?tid=29)

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RE: GB News - Humphrey Hacker - 28-09-2023

(27-09-2023, 10:19 PM)Former Member 237 Wrote:  I’m not really sure why GB news would crash and burn because of this. It’s not a one man band. Millions of pounds have been invested. Such comments are very revealing….

There's nothing revealing about the comment at all. I said if GBN were to collapse then it would be over this and I don't think they will. There is a lot of money behind this as well as lots of people who joined the station for what they offered and they will be determined to keep their jobs.

Yes I know the station or rather its presenters have some views which many may regard as unsavoury but in a democracy those views have a right to being aired.

(For the record I don't mean sexist, racist or otherwise offensive views)

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RE: GB News - Keith - 28-09-2023

(27-09-2023, 10:59 PM)Stooky Bill Wrote:  The Byline Times has an article about today's events which includes this about what what is supposedly been going on at GB News 

Byline Times understands that it was the threat of “staff insurrection” over how Wootton, the show’s executive editor, handled the segment – and the apparent mocking of production staff (per Fox’s tweets) – which led to Wootton’s suspension. 

If this is correct about Wootton being the show's executive editor it sounds like remarkably similar to the problem BBC had with The Russell Brand show (at least with regards to his sacking). If I recall correctly one of the problems identified after the 'Sachsgate' incident was that Brand was essentially an executive producer of his own programme, and others producing the programme weren't prepared to / didn't feel able to intervene when he crossed the line.

If Wootton or other presenters are 'executive editors' for their programmes then I think there needs to be someone else present in the gallery (or watching) with equal or higher status, who can intervene. Failing that the gallery staff should be empowered to be able to instruct the presenter to make corrections or apologise where a guest has crossed the line, even if it's communicated during a commercial break.

I think it's reasonable to assume that Laurence Fox is unlikely to return to the channel, especially since he's doubled down on his comments and essentially thrown the channel under the bus. I imagine that assuming the pre-interview screenshot is genuine GB News' defence would be that it notes "would ever want to get into a relationship with a woman unless...", which is slightly different (though not much better) than what he actually said on air.

As for Wootton returning, that's less clear. Ordinarily I'd have thought suspending him yesterday would allow them to claim they've completed an investigation by Monday morning, say they've given him a reminder about policies, and return him to the air. Given the controversary already surrounding him which they've had to respond to a government committee on, I think that makes things less certain. Also, worth remembering that GB News previously sacked Guto Hari for simply taking the knee, which was deemed as "an unacceptable breach of our standards" (according to a tweet put out at the time).

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RE: GB News - Humphrey Hacker - 28-09-2023

"executive editors'. That's a phrase I've never heard before and it does throw up a serious issue. If Wootton is indeed running his own show then there is the necessity for a higher up to be an overseer.

I think it would have to be a senior member of the editorial staff maybe an "editor in charge"

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RE: GB News - Adsales - 28-09-2023

(27-09-2023, 10:48 PM)JAS84 Wrote:  200k? Would that be enough to bankrupt the channel?

I don’t think I made any mention of anything bankrupting the channel.

I pointed out that management stop sitting on their hands as soon as some something happens which will affect the bottom line - i.e. a sizeable fine and/or advertisers pulling spots.

£200k is of course not a big deal for a business which made a loss of £31m in its latest accounting period. But looking at it from another perspective, it is around 10% of the dismal advertising revenue it made in the same period.

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RE: GB News - Robbie1123 - 28-09-2023

This is a channel that takes time to fix little details,

For example the capitalised GBNEWS logo appeared behind the presenter for weeks after they made it GBNews.

Mark Styne was left in promos for weeks after his official departure.

So I think it's quite telling that, as mentioned above, the promo adverts used to cover the ad breaks have immediately lost Dan from them. Along with Dolan's cover show switching to his shows branding, rather than using Dan's name, it does appear as if some people are not expecting him to return and had changes made quickly which they usually don’t sort out that fast.

I'm not a fan of Dan's show, far too showbiz. The slogan "No Spin No Bias" stated just before he rips into a monologue giving his spin and showing his bias on a celebrity is just silly and the "superstar" panel..?

I think it would be good for them to drop his show, but who could replace him permanently, should the slot be split into two shows?

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RE: GB News - Stooky Bill - 28-09-2023

(28-09-2023, 08:58 AM)Keith Wrote:  If this is correct about Wootton being the show's executive editor it sounds like remarkably similar to the problem BBC had with The Russell Brand show (at least with regards to his sacking).  If I recall correctly one of the problems identified after the 'Sachsgate' incident was that Brand was essentially an executive producer of his own programme, and others producing the programme weren't prepared to / didn't feel able to intervene when he crossed the line.

It's a situation that's quite common in the US, both for their equivalent news opinion programmes and things like the late night comedy talk shows. Though in a lot of cases there's normally more than one exec producer. 

It does mean that for a show that's named after you, you have control over it. Creatively it's also good as the star has more freedom. But as you say it can get out of hand with certain egos and lack of editorial awareness. Sachsgate is a great example, most of Chris Evans' biggest gigs have been made by his company too and although there was nothing as bad as that, both his Radio 1 show and TFI Friday ended acrimoniously

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RE: GB News - TMD_24 - 28-09-2023

Mark Dolan is back on 9pm-11pm tonight whilst Patrick Christys is doing the 8pm slot on Friday.

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RE: GB News - Transmission - 28-09-2023

It's been clear that for some time now there's some tension within GB News between the two sides of its output, the side that is a right-leaning news channel employing some good quality journalists and the side that is a fringe/radical right-leaning opinion channel employing conspiracy theorists and controversialists. It'll be interesting to see how it is once the dust settles and how far (or not) it dials back on the type of output that Wooton and Fox were involved in.

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RE: GB News - Keith - 28-09-2023

On a related note it appears that MailOnline have now used this incident as a rather convenient excuse to terminate Wootton's contract, having previously suspended his column back in August on a separate matter which they had been looking into.
Ref: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66951256 

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RE: GB News - leewilliams - 28-09-2023

As a matter of clarity, Ben Leo is the programme editor of Dan Wootton Tonight but has removed that description from his Twitter/X bio in the last 24 hours.

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