New Alternative News Channel "GB News" chaired by Andrew Neil launching - read OP before posting

Padraig178

And back to the thread.

An industry insider reckons Rupert Murdoch is paying £50million over 3 years to Piers Morgan for his nightly show which will be broadcast in the UK, US and Australia. Rupert at 90 negotiated the deal personally. Morgan is now the highest paid TV guy anywhere outside the US.

Murdoch clearly thinks the GB News experiment is one worth following.

breezy1985

I was really missing Eskimo and Anne but thankfully someone new has come along who sounds just like them

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006635#Comment_118006635

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006059#Comment_118006059

But my point is Farage is adept at discerning the issues that really concern people not what we think should concern them.

If this was the case, he would have been successful at least one of the times he tried to win a seat in Westminster.

In fact, I would turn it completely around and suggest that he actually convinced people the EU did concern them and when others saw it as bogeyman by which they could finger point to distract attention away from themselves, it became something which crept over the line in 2016. And even so, it took the incompetency of David Cameron and the 'behind the scenes' work of data analysists to make it so.

MisterAnarchy

https://twitter.com/hughquinn31/status/1447677454932381701

😁😁

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008422#Comment_118008422

Maybe he could give us a rendition on the show after a few "India Pale Ales"

The Wolfe Tones would surely be better guests than old timer darts man or whoever Osmonde from a few weeks back

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118008448#Comment_118008448

Well he did try to have the racist wife beating had been comedian on, at least people knew who that scrote was.

Hotblack Desiato

Farage is so sozzled these days he can't tell the difference between IPA and IRA 🤣

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118010550#Comment_118010550

Maybe he thought it was short for CAMRA and he was showing support for Real Ale

Padraig178

I checked in on GB News yesterday afternoon while channel-hopping the news of the murder of Sir David Amess and came across Arlene Foster anchoring the show with Liam Halligan.

Considering she's new to the game she handled the breaking story pretty well - it looks like she's signed up for a regular Friday gig so an early baptism of fire.

Didn't stay too long following the story on GB News as they obviously don't have the back-up to cover a big breaking story like the networks

AllForIt

News comes to GBNews. A novel idea.

Wonder how this will affect the ratings.

https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1450027519894249473

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118036081#Comment_118036081

I'd be more interested in how it affects balance with regards to news impartiality regulations, and if it'll affect shows outside of the news bulletins because they're now offering actual news bulletins (rather than just being an opinion/debate channel).

ancapailldorcha

So, they weren't even broadcasting news bulletins? No wonder it's a shambles.

MisterAnarchy

Nigel is back again

https://twitter.com/jankell21032905/status/1450604175503544328

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118049715#Comment_118049715

Didn't his friends bomb a hotel down there once?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118049775#Comment_118049775

Oh yes. And a pretty Big Swing by the IRA as well, aiming itself at killing Thatcher and the UK cabinet. How Farage isn't being pulled through coals for this must purely come down to being yesterday's man.

Unless, this is some kind of really deep, four dimensional play by him, a level of satire we can't comprehend. I don't understand the context from which he speaks; is it an Irish pub in the town or something? And to that, are they just trying their hand to see what Farage will say?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing

ancapailldorcha

I've been to that hotel for a conference. When I told some other attendees about the bombing, most of them had no idea it had even happened. Ireland is just a non-entity when it comes to English people's understanding of history, even their own.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118050248#Comment_118050248

People in North England of a certain age remember Brighton. They tend to be more remorseful about Thatcher stepping out of the room than your average armchair republican

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118050610#Comment_118050610

She didn't step out of her room, she was in her room preparing her speech for the party conference the following day. Her popularity soared after she defiantly went ahead with the conference after most advised it should be cancelled. She wasn't called the Iron lady for nothing, which has a better ring to it than the Coal Lady that northerners would have preferred I'm sure.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118050610#Comment_118050610

Well, that'd make sense after what she did to the north. I'd expect the same from some of the older English as well. Not every day someone comes so close to killing a Prime Minister after all.

Just, however low you set your expectations of how much English politicians know about Ireland and its history, lower them further. If the place wasn't called "Northern Ireland", none of them would have a clue where it was.

Tony EH

I remember the bombing quite well. My Saturday morning cartoons were interrupted by the sight of that cunt Norman Tebbit getting stretchered out of the hotel. 😄

Hotblack Desiato

If I recall correctly, for a very brief moment on live TV a certain part of his anatomy which was supposed to be hidden by his pyjamas, was not 😲

marieholmfan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117903595#Comment_117903595

Just 'cause the Brits say it's faked doesn't mean it is. Remember Widgery and the Guildford 4?

Didn't think so.

marieholmfan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118006032#Comment_118006032

Larger than the EPP?

Any proof of that?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118056597#Comment_118056597

That poster was banned (again) so you are gonna have to wait till his reincarnation with a new profile before you get your answer.

Also most people don't know what the EPP or any other party is and don't actually realize that they are not just voting for FF or FG or whoever in a European election

marieholmfan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118056650#Comment_118056650

Well more fool me for trying to correct someone on the internet; thanks for your intervention.

It was refreshing to see David Starkey on Talking Pints last night - and it seems to have gone down well.

Farage show now moves to a town or city throughout the UK each Thursday - and last night's was in Folkstone. The addition of the crowd makes an enormous difference, as sometimes watching the same set on GB News can become repetitive.

In fact, I think it would be a wise move for GB News to give Starkey a history-style program each week; I can see it performing very well.

I know Starkey isn't everyone's cup of tea and is often acid tongued. That said, he knows an enormous amount regarding UK history; as a passion for the subject; and this could be something that GB News benefits from.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118059767#Comment_118059767

I see.

listermint

Ah yes Starkey man of the people , two posh lads taking to each other oh joy

Starkey of the "slavery was not genocide so many damn blacks had survived"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118059790#Comment_118059790

Starkey apologised for the way in which he phrased the remarks. We should not condemn public intellectuals to the dustbin of history based on some poorly worded single sentence. He apologised - we should accept that and move on accordingly. Indeed, on Farage last night, Starkey re-affirmed the position that his remarks were "stupidly" phrased.

Starkey isn't posh. He was brought up in a state school, worked hard to make it to one of the few grammar schools in Kent, and worked his way up through university.

As I say, it was a refreshing conversation - and I do hope that GB News hires Starkey on the back of it.

listermint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118059831#Comment_118059831

Nah he's posh. You know the reformed type that get posher as they progress away from their origins. They do their utmost to move away from who and what they were. I suppose it's a role they play to slot into the world of wealth the so avidly want to rub shoulders with. There's strangely alot of that in the UK. Which is still a classist place

MisterAnarchy

Lazarus has returned from the dead .

Welcome back, I'm sure everyone else is as happy as I am to see you back.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118060124#Comment_118060124

All his other accounts got banned 🤣

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118059831#Comment_118059831

A minor point but it wasn't a Grammer school in Kent but a school in Cumbria near the river Kent on the other end of the country in the town he grew up

GB News set to recruit 60 new staff in an attempt to boost its digital output. They've also hired the editor of the Sunday Express, Michael Booker, who will become the channel's editorial director.

Good to see a push for digital, as that's where they can expand reach and audience potential.

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061637#Comment_118061637

The channel is dying, it will be forced to go "digital" because soon the won't be able to afford the rent for the "studio" or be able to pay the electricity bill.

pixelburp

Yeah, this isn't expansion, it's a pivot precisely because its broadcast strategy has been a demonstrable failure. There's certainly a market for polemics online but those seeking them can find plenty of free options on YouTube; with younger, more relevant presenters than has beens or bitter "cancelled" types.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061749#Comment_118061749

A channel that's dying wouldn't hire an additional 60 new staff.

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061869#Comment_118061869

It will be closed by the end of the year, we have fervently been told that so many times by the zealots on here.

So confident were they in their belief, that not one would take my bet of it being closed by the end of the year.

pixelburp

I don't think it will close within the year. But it's a curiously defensive bias that insists GB News' is a roaring success. It isn't, the cold stats are there no matter how it's spun. The station hasn't translated its limited focus into eyeballs or financial success. So either one continues trying to make a (dying) medium work with a shrinking revenue stream, or you hire staff to pivot elsewhere in the hopes of a renewed bump (rather than a Dead Cat Bounce). The emphasis on "digital" shows losses are being cut.

This is not unique to GB News either: many physical publications tried this when the first signs appeared that magazines, blogs etc were being squeezed out; the pivot taken was often to video, with frequent failure following because you can't just change one's focus overnight. GB News may find "digital" an even harder nut to crack given it's a much broader, more competitive market.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061979#Comment_118061979

Nobody has argued that GB News is a "roaring success". Far from it, the figures could and should be healthier.

That said, GB News is not a roaring failure, either. It has performed far better digitally than was originally believed. That's not "pivoting"; it's merely what businesses do; adjust to where the market and future growth can be. That's not a failure, that's just how business works. You capitalize on your strengths, and consolidate your weaknesses.

Furthermore, GB News isn't the only show in town. The new Murdoch channel with Piers Morgan is going to boost right-wing politics yet further.

All in all, there is reason for optimism either way.

Tony EH

It's been nothing but a failure, even in the broadest of terms.

I know you desperately feel the need to shill for this thing, but really...at the very least...try to be a bit honest about it.

Penn

I wouldn't say their digital is doing that well either, with drops in subscriber gain and video views on YouTube

https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/gbnewsonline

Their other social media seems very static too, with no real growth.

As has been repeated ad nauseum, they're not doing anything to attract new viewers, and that's before News UK launches which will almost certainly pull from their viewer base.

What will a greater push into digital do?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118062077#Comment_118062077

Their online numbers are pretty poor though. Like they don't tend to even have videos that go viral. Even RTE can manage that and I'm pretty sure RTE tend to generally outperform them on YouTube.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118062077#Comment_118062077

Quibbling over degrees of underwhelming results seems redundant when it's obvious yirue enthusiasm for this channel clouds reality. There's no evidence their digital, social media outlets are performing especially well. Teh hard truth is they're not attracting new eyeballs, and have failed to generate the kind of viral traction a modern media outlet would be seeking.

Maybe that's what those 60 are being hired to identify, those ways to create the required buzz from a digital platform, but right this minute the numbers do not speak to optimism, only a slowly degrading orbit. At a glance it might look fine, the view still decent, but you're still dropping slowly, inexorably. Gravity eventually wins.

And that's before one consider the reality that it's one thing to say you're hiring 60 people - another to actually find quality candidates. Christ we've been interviewing the last 2, 3 months and still can't find good enough candidates for 2 open roles. If GB News are serious, they're going to struggle to find quality candidates willing to enable a polemical channel.

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061869#Comment_118061869

It needs 60 "new staff" to work from home posting shìte on thier youtube channel because there won't be a studio anymore.

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118062077#Comment_118062077

When you say

"It has performed far better digitally than was originally believed. "

What's the evidence for that?

As for Murdochs new channel? That will be the death knell for GB "news"

Penn

It also has to be taken into account if these 60 staff are all new positions, or how many may be replacing staff who have left. I think I read in a few articles that Andrew Neil wasn't the only one who didn't like the direction the channel was heading in, and some staff may have left given that the channel is slumping and could be a black mark on their CV if they stay too long.

Theoretical, obviously, but there's a difference between hiring 60 new staff, and hiring for 60 new positions.

ancapailldorcha

So, it's taken the business gurus at GB News months to twig that most people are getting their news and commentary online and that maybe they should target that market? And this is what passes for innovation at GB News? I've seen some dodgy defences for them here but this tops the lot.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118062336#Comment_118062336

If you are suggesting Murdoch's new right-wing enterprise is going to be even more successful than GB News, who am I to be irked by that outcome?

That sounds positively good; and competition is never a bad thing - regardless of who eats who.