FREDDIE DAVIES: Don’t count GB News as over yet

Let’s be honest, GB News hasn’t exactly had the best start. It’s launch was dogged with technical problems from microphones being off, to the set being too dark, to the channel crashing all together. To make matters worse, the channel’s flagship anchor Andrew Neil went on holiday just two weeks after launch, never to return as a presenter and now not even as a contributor after a nasty public spat with GB News bosses. Many, it must be said mainly on the left, are now saying the channel is over. They’re saying that Neil’s departure signals that the channel has been taken over by the ‘rabid right’, and that it will now become a Fox News-style echo chamber. But to be truthful, they’ve been saying this from the start. It’s evident to see that they want the channel to fail.

Neil’s departure will have undoubtedly hit GB News hard. Neil is thought to have played a large part in the hiring of some of the channel’s high-profile anchors. He is also one of the best broadcast political interviews that the UK has ever seen, and he has proven time and time again that he can put his biases aside when on air to interrogate his interviewees. He will be a loss to the channel.

However, to claim that this will be the end of GB News is completely wrong. As is the claim that GB News is now a right-wing echo chamber. The Great British Breakfast, hosted by respected and established journalists Simon McCoy and Kirsty Gallacher, gives a perfect balance on the news. To The Point, the channel’s mid-morning show, does feature fiery and opinionated monologues but if you bother to watch more, you’ll see that the interviews and debates are conducted in a fair way.

At midday, Gloria De Piero (a former Labour MP and certainly not a right-winger) hosts an absolutely fantastic political show — The Briefing. If you didn’t know her past occupation, it would be impossible to tell her bias. Darren McCaffery, a brilliant political journalist, presents a similar show at 3pm. On Gloria’s edition there’s often an interview with an MP about their life that the public don’t necessarily know about. And guess what — the majority of MPs that have been on so far have been from Labour or the Lib Dems. Fox News-style echo chamber? I don’t think so.

Liam Halligan’s On The Money show, airing after Gloria’s, gives a good and simplified view of economics news for the average viewer.

The Afternoon Agenda with Alex Phillips (a former Brexit Party MEP) focuses on one question that is discussed in-depth. Whilst Alex — like some other presenters — does give her opinion on the matter, she conducts the debates surrounding it in a balanced way.

This is a theme that flows through the channel’s evening schedule, with presenters such as Colin Brazier and Michelle Dewberry offering their opinions but also fairly listening and scrutinising those of others who both agree and disagree. Even Nigel Farage (we all know his political views), anchors his ‘Talking Pints’ segment in a decent and fair way, often having guests on who he disagrees with and politely discussing the issues of the day over a pint.

Another theme that runs through the fibre that GB News is made of is being different to the ‘big three’ (the BBC, ITV and Sky). It discusses different issues, relies on viewer participation through emails and Tweets and devotes a large amount of air-time talking to regional reporters — one for every region of Britain including Scotland and Wales — about issues that people feel matter to them but don’t get enough attention on the ‘big three’.

If the critics actually bothered to watch GB News’s output instead of a couple of monologues they’ve seen in their social media echo chambers, they’d see that the channel is so much more balanced than they think. Who knows, maybe they do see this but still want the channel to fail? I’ve seen a number of people on social media saying gleefully that they have refused to go on GB News. Why do they not want their view to be heard? Some argue that it’s because GB News only wants ‘lefties’ on to create content out of being argued with this, but watching a simple hour of the channel’s output shows that this is not true. Yes, they’ll be challenged, sometimes heavily — but quite frankly if a journalist doesn’t challenge their guest on a dodgy claim or piece of ‘evidence’, then they’re not doing their job properly.

GB News has a diverse range of hosts — from right-wingers such as Nigel Farage, to left-wingers such as Gloria De Piero and Becca Hutson. From established journalists such as Simon McCoy, Colin Brazier and Alastair Stewart to new, up-and-coming presenters such as Patrick Christys and Mercy Muroki. The channel’s production team is also made up of mainly young people.

GB News isn’t meant to be a channel which you watch for hours. The whole point of the schedule is that you dip-in for your favourite shows and then dip-out for others, which gives each show a distinct vibe and identity. This naturally makes the channel more lively than the BBC and Sky, where the schedules are generally a news wheel of rolling news. This isn’t a bad thing, but isn’t what I want to watch day-in, day-out.

Above all, the reason why I want GB News to succeed is because it provides an alternative. I still watch the BBC, ITV and Sky News — they all still provide good journalism and good content. However, GB News’s alternative is deeply needed.

And one last thing — if you’re one of those who relentlessly criticises GB News on Twitter without even having watched a full show, watch it and watch it with an open mind. Who knows — it may even surprise you.