GB News - Printable Version

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

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RE: GB News - nwtv2003 - 09-02-2023

I’ll be honest I don’t watch the channel, and I don’t have a lot to say about it. But I’m amazed Alastair Stewart has stuck around for so long, I always felt he was always one of Andrew Neil’s main signings for the channel, along with Simon McCoy. Likewise getting Eamonn Holmes was a big coup (obviously long after Andrew Neil left), but I guess in their cases it hasn’t really done any harm to their careers.

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RE: GB News - Stockland Hillman - 09-02-2023

(09-02-2023, 09:34 PM)MFTJA Wrote:  GBN could easily position themselves as a high-brow, right-wing station, but they don’t seem to care about their reputation at all.

I still follow them on Twitter (more for entertainment than “news”) and the content gets worse day-by-day. For example, an article was published with this headline earlier: “Iconic high street fashion chain to shut shops for good THIS MONTH just weeks after last round of closures“. This article was about New Look - hardly that “iconic,” furthermore, they seem to be closing 6 poorly performing stores, and opening 4 new ones. This is far from drastic and is how businesses tend to work.

I’d imagine that more of the “respected“ presenters will start to leave GB News in due course. This would leave the channel full of conspiracy theories and echo chambers, but surely a channel based on those two things cannot survive for long.

The same New Look story was on Mailonline in similar terms and every Reach PLC site.  Unfortunately it's the horror of SEO writing (based on search terms) and Buzzfeed style.

I really don't think it works well for them 

GB News sweet spot is company and chat with cosy presenters doing mid market 55+ appeal stories all day with a Farage and Wooton to give it a bit of bite at prime time.

Basically 2005-10 Sky News and ITV daytime before the media needle on 'acceptable content' moved to its current extreme.

They could really clean up 22:30-00:00 with a warmer paper review slot,  the current guest rota is to 'one note ' unfunny male comedy.  Simon McCoy with a decent guest rota would be perfect fit, would demolish the remaining ratings of Sky News, which feels to me like a university staff meeting on zoom.  So worthy, so 'correct',so dull.

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RE: GB News - Kojak - 09-02-2023

(09-02-2023, 09:47 PM)nwtv2003 Wrote:  I’ll be honest I don’t watch the channel, and I don’t have a lot to say about it. But I’m amazed Alastair Stewart has stuck around for so long, I always felt he was always one of Andrew Neil’s main signings for the channel, along with Simon McCoy. Likewise getting Eamonn Holmes was a big coup (obviously long after Andrew Neil left), but I guess in their cases it hasn’t really done any harm to their careers.

Isabel Webster, too. I can see her being snapped up by ITV or similar if/when she moves on from GBN. With Al, I think it's more a case of it being a fairly light workload and him essentially having free rein.

(09-02-2023, 10:15 PM)Stockland Hillman Wrote:  GB News sweet spot is company and chat with cosy presenters doing mid market 55+ appeal stories all day with a Farage and Wooton to give it a bit of bite at prime time.

Basically 2005-10 Sky News and ITV daytime before the media needle on 'acceptable content' moved to its current extreme.

They could really clean up 22:30-00:00 with a warmer paper review slot,  the current guest rota is to 'one note ' unfunny male comedy.  Simon McCoy with a decent guest rota would be perfect fit, would demolish the remaining ratings of Sky News, which feels to me like a university staff meeting on zoom.  So worthy, so 'correct',so dull.

Like an edgy 'This Morning' - which oddly enough is exactly how Simon himself described what GB News would be, not long before it first went on air. I don't think he'd go back, tbh - he seems very moderate, and nowhere near fire and brimstone enough for what GBN seems to want to be. I do agree with you, though. Some much needed calm, intelligent discussion would be the perfect anecdote to the current rabble of the press previews chez Sky.

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RE: GB News - KrazyKei - 09-02-2023

Oh how I wish I was allowed to do fantasy schedules because I would know what sort of schedule I would do for GB News. That said, I hope that GB News can work it out and define a schedule that appeals to the vast majority whilst also keeping the centre-right outlook.

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RE: GB News - London Lite - 10-02-2023

I've said before on the other forums that GBN has a solid line-up on weekday evenings from 7pm onwards, it's not my ideal viewing but for the target demo, it's a solid schedule of opinion.

Daytime continues to mystify despite numerous schedule changes since launch which aren't ever quite right. Mon-Thurs breakfast on their third duo of former Sky News presenters, another Sky News presenter on weekend breakfast and weekday lunch with another ex Sky presenter mixed with opinion led presenters.

Another thing I continue to struggle with is that bar the bulletin presenters, other people in news roles like Tom Harwood will give his opinion on stories at 9.30am and then later be at Westminster supposedly providing impartial analysis when his career has been working for right-wing outlets. Olivia Utley is another who has a similar background and yet is she supposed to be in an impartial role as a correspondent or also giving her own personal viewpoint?

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RE: GB News - Stockland Hillman - 10-02-2023

I think its preferable to have transparency of opinion in politics correspondents. Tom Harwood (right wing, but pro LGBT (notably sound, respectful and human on Trans issues) does a fairly geeky but broad topic talk show. It's fine for him to appear on other talk shows; and as long as its factual and opinion free in the news bulletins. No different to Piers Morgan at ITV GMB.

Rather know what the views are upfront than the pretence of Robert Peston as an impartial journalist. Very much Modern Establishment and close to pro EU Roland Rudd and that crowd - which is fine, but not transparent on air and he only appears in PSB regulated news content.

I think there's a misunderstanding here about impartiality. Only NEWS bulletins are regulated that way. TALK content , however topical and current is oniy covered by due impartiality over total output (again the same way GMB is different to ITV News; same as LBC Radio news is separate from James O Brian)

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RE: GB News - Steve in Pudsey - 10-02-2023

But if you call your station "GB News", you invite the regulator to consider that the public would expect that all of the station's output is news and falls under the appropriate regulations

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RE: GB News - Jon - 10-02-2023

Exactly I don’t think the argument “it’s opinion’ not news” really stacks up, in reality it all falls into both categories. The vast majority of the programming is doing some level of news reporting even if it’s discussing it in an opinionated way, it’s categorised as news on the EPGs, branded as ‘News’ and probably wouldn’t consider looking for sponsorship on their programmes due to the rules on sponsorship of news programming.

I’ve also used the same point to defend it against people saying it shouldn’t be called a news channel.

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RE: GB News - Stockland Hillman - 10-02-2023

(10-02-2023, 02:48 PM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote:  But if you call your station "GB News", you invite the regulator to consider that the public would expect that all of the station's output is news and falls under the appropriate regulations

There is no such thing as a UK "news channel" its a fictional construct - a twitter and media forums tooth fairy. In UK broadcasting regulations, Sky News is the same licence class as Babestation.

Ofcom have decided that you can mix content,  so long as the 'News' reporting is separate and impartial (the Codes News part applies to these) Hence ITV regions can have sport,  weather,  pollen sponsors - if this holy grail of ' exclusivly news' existed that couldn't happen. The simple appearance of a caption magically separates the content in law even tho its all one show with same hosts and EPG entry.

On the other side of the coin, if you couldn't mix news topical news content into mainstream shows then GMB, This Morning,  Loose Woomen, Jeremy Vine, all of LBC couldn't happen.

Everything GBN and Talk TV exists elsewhere in some form.

I wouldn't have called GB News that for many reasons,  but Ofcom compliance isn't one of them. Names are not literal:  Quest Red always appeared in full colour and Babe station features neither infants or trains

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RE: GB News - Steve in Pudsey - 10-02-2023

Nobody is suggesting you can't have mixed content. I'm suggesting that as soon as the broadcaster labels their output as News - which they are de facto doing by the name of the station - the viewer is entitled to expect it to be impartial and for Ofcom to regulate it as such.

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