29-01-2023, 01:12 PM
(28-01-2023, 10:49 PM)Spencer Wrote: I actually think they missed a trick, and made a rod for their own back, by not employing presenters from a broader range of the political spectrum.But they haven't missed a trick. That wasn't the point of the channel - it was set up to propagate one particular ideology - they'll have left wing voices on so their audience can shout at the TV, and they'll have news programming on so they don't alienate advertisers. Apologies if this breaks the rules mods - difficult to discuss this channel without touching on its motives!
When you consider the highest rating talk radio discussion programme in the UK is James O’Brien on LBC, it seems clear that there’s an audience for opinion based programming from the left as well the right, and that both sides can comfortably co-exist on the same station.
Plus if you’re trying to gain an audience through getting people fired up on different topics, surely a broader range of opinions is going to help with this more than having lots of people agreeing with each other.
Employing a more balanced range of presenters would also give GB News more credibility and leave them less open to accusations of being simply a mouthpiece for what critics might refer to as ‘gammon’.
If they really wanted to push the envelope and show how radical they are, they should offer Owen Jones a show.
If anything LBC have almost happened on James O'Brien's zeitgeist while he's taken advantage of the current political dysfunction (Boris, Brexit etc) - he wasn't hired as a leftwing voice. The fact they once had Jacob Rees Mogg, Nigel Farage, and Katie Hopkins on their airwaves shows this.