GB News after two years of broadcasting

They tried to kill the channel before launch with a hate campaign. They predicted it wouldn’t survive six months on air. They decried it as a right-wing echo chamber for simple-minded bigots. But, two years after launch, GB News is proving itself to be a champion of free speech across the political spectrum.

For people like me, who had lost trust in the BBC after its anti-Brexit lecturing, climate agitprop and descent into woke ideology, the prospect of a shake-up of TV news programmes could not come soon enough. GB News is a reaction to our censorial times; a lone warrior challenging Establishment conformity and bias.

Contrary to what its opponents believe, GB News serves its audience with diverse political perspectives. Discussion shows feature guests from both the Left and the Right, and contrary opinions are given equal airtime. Civil debate and critical thinking are encouraged. It is common sense which prevails, not dogma.

Critics are wrong when they say GB News is a right-wing channel, conflating traditional conservative values with political lobbying. Unlike its rivals, GB News listens to ordinary people and covers major issues which the mainstream media have shied away from in recent years. It is definitely not a propaganda machine.

It’s not perfect though. GB News had a faltering start with frequent technical issues. They’ve improved but faults still often happen, from cutting off presenters with weather bulletins to showing the wrong video clips during news headlines and forgetting to turn presenters’ microphones on (or off) when shows begin.

And, let’s be blunt, it was an unfathomably batty idea to build studio sets with black and grey backgrounds and furniture, both in terms of lighting and the positive mood the channel sought to portray at its launch. Digital backdrops have gone some way to lessen that mistake, but it’s still an unforgivable distraction.

GB News didn’t even present news bulletins at the start – how did they not anticipate the audience would expect to hear actual news? – but it now has great newsreaders including Polly Middlehurst and Tatiana Sanchez. But it still lacks the primetime current events shows it needs to out-perform the competition.

The homegrown nature of the channel should not be an obstacle to examining international affairs with far greater scrutiny. GB News doesn’t have its own foreign correspondents, although it does canvass opinions from reputable journalists based abroad for occasional stories. It’s an area that needs to expand.

GB News still seems a little unsure about its identity, trying to be in equal parts an entertainment channel and a serious news broadcaster. There is room for both, and it’s clear that the management is keen to trial different formats, but it won’t dominate the news schedule until that dilemma has a neater resolution.

The station does shows signs of taking its reporting function seriously. Mark White is superb at covering home affairs but needs the opportunity to make long-form documentaries as well as short reports. There should be no lesser goal than becoming the UK’s leading television brand for investigative journalism.

In two years of broadcasting, GB News has, to my knowledge, only produced one significant documentary (on grooming gangs). With so many subjects to tackle – sewage pollution, Chinese espionage, Islamic terror threats and climate propaganda to name a few – GB News ought to stake a claim on this territory.

While there’s a need for more serious journalism, I wouldn’t want GB News to be devoid of its unique brand of humour, and the sharp satirical wit of comedians such as Nick Dixon, Leo Kearse and Simon Evans is a welcome alternative to the anti-humour of other broadcasters. The GB News crew actually tell funny jokes.

Probably the best thing to happen to GB News was the early departure of the man who put his name to the channel when it was founded. Andrew Neil is a veteran broadcaster but he never seemed like a good fit for the fledgling station. His brash and adversarial interviewing technique would not have worked on GB News.

By contrast, the thoughtful and eloquent Colin Brazier, who came to the channel after two decades with Sky News, was exactly what GB News needed. Had the station kept him a headline news-hour slot, it might have earned more recognition by now. Brazier is a class act and his departure was a loss for the audience.

Proving that GB News is not the home of cranks, the roster of talent includes several very experienced and respected journalists. Alastair Stewart, now retired, was the most notable example, bringing expertise and credibility to the channel. But the mix of new faces and old favourites is what gives the station its character.

Neil Oliver, the beloved philosopher-king of Scotland, delivers powerful monologues about contemporary authoritarianism and political scandals with the same passion many of us remember from his treks around the British coastline. The freedom to tackle controversial issues fearlessly is a key GB News feature.

Dan Wootton is one of the channel’s most engaging and likeable presenters. He’s proudly patriotic and great on political issues, although his tendency to spend a lot of time on royal and celebrity gossip can get tedious. However, his regular discussions with the brilliant Megyn Kelly are entertaining and informative.

Brexit pioneer Nigel Farage was promoted from a weekend role as a co-presenter to an evening slot with his own show four nights a week. He’s an asset to the channel and has interesting and friendly discussions with plenty of people who disagree with him. Openness to debate is standard practice on GB News.

One of the key GB News programmes is Andrew Doyle’s Free Speech Nation. In some ways it is the embodiment of the channel’s philosophy. The Titania McGrath creator is to be commended for reporting critical free-speech concerns and interviewing the brave people who fight pernicious woke ideology.

The jewel in the GB News crown is surely the sharp-witted and eminently sensible Michelle Dewberry. It didn’t take long for her to grow into her presenting role, and she is an adept referee between guests of opposing views. And, in a hilarious comedy moment, Dewberry demonstrated masterful comic timing.

Another presenter who has swiftly become an audience favourite is Jacob Rees-Mogg. Honest and straight-talking in both his praise and criticism of the Government, and warmly hosting guests of different political views, the gentlemanly Rees-Mogg has become a welcome addition to the evening line-up.

Rees-Mogg is not only a forensic interviewer but also a respectful listener, even when faced with the most ludicrous claims. Few people could maintain such sincerity when battling an indoctrinated ultracrepidarian from the Extinction Rebellion cult or enduring the abject rudeness of a shouty Remain campaigner.

It is not only the veteran presenters who make the channel what it is today. The intellectual and fiery Emily Carver is the rising star of GB News. Among the younger presenters, she’s certainly the most capable of identifying and challenging weak arguments, and also the most knowledgeable on a wide range of topics.

Patrick Christys has been given room to flourish on the channel, and he achieves a fine balance between exuberance and considered analysis of serious topics, although I’m convinced he holds a mischievous ambition to make the aforementioned Mark White snort with laughter during a solemn discussion.

I keenly await Lee Anderson’s show. Andrea Jenkyns and Miriam Cates are regular guests who should be featured more often. Could there be room for them as presenters? But it’s not all about politicians; the calibre of journalists is high on the channel. Camilla Tominey and Liam Halligan are just two examples.

GB News deserves praise for its stable of regular contributors. One quality of the station’s inquisitive style is to encourage the audience to listen to both sides of an argument. And yes, there are guests who hold fringe views – mostly on the ‘progressive’ Left – but moderate voices dominate the broadcasts.

Conservative opinions are eloquently expressed by the like of Lord Daniel Moylan, Toby Young of the Free Speech Union, and political commentator and consultant Alex Deane. I’m equally keen to hear the insightful left-wing perspectives of trade unionist Paul Embery and former LabourList editor Peter Edwards.

GB News proves that respectful debate between people of different views can be achieved when they’re given the freedom to present good-faith arguments. Other channels persist with a tiresome confrontational approach to their interviews that leaves the viewership cold. GB News is simply classier than the rest.

While there is a lot to praise about the channel’s broadcasting, I cannot neglect to mention the station’s vacuous and ugly website. It’s a quagmire of unevidenced claims, erroneous interpretations of Highway Code rules and mind-numbingly dull gossip about the Royal Family. It’s also choked with advertisements.

The very few articles that actually refer to genuine news are usually plagued with grammar and spelling mistakes, and they never explore topics to the depth that should be expected from competent journalists. The channel needs to emulate sites like The Free Press in order to gain credibility, not the worst tabloids.

GB News has a battle to fight against opponents who want to shut the channel down. They will try every dirty trick and make semantic leaps about right-wing MPs broadcasting on a news channel that might vaguely justify an Ofcom complaint. Professionalism in all outputs is the only defence, so fix that website!

Of course, if people are desperate to find bias in broadcasting, they need only look at the BBC, Sky and Channel 4. The likes of Emily Maitlis, Kay Burley and Jon Snow always revealed political transparency, but apparently it doesn’t count if you toe the Establishment line and express disdain for ordinary citizens.

This is the reason why GB News is needed on the broadcasting landscape. Trust in the legacy media is collapsing because it consistently reframes perfectly valid concerns about current affairs as the bigotry of the savages. GB News has much more respect for its audience than the long-standing broadcasters.

It might still be a relatively small player – although the channel does beat its rivals’ ratings from time to time – but when GB News makes enough of a fuss about a crucial topic, it forces the others to pay attention. It was GB News that led the way in revealing the scale and criminality of the illegal Channel boat crossings.

GB News talks about grooming gangs and age-inappropriate sex-education materials in schools. It is GB News that discusses the unofficial blasphemy and censorship laws which protect Islamists while Christian street preachers are unlawfully arrested for quoting scripture and ‘mis-gendering’ transvestites as men.

It is GB News that rightly calls out the institutional capture by diversity lobbyists in our police forces and other public-sector organizations, and I say this as a former police officer and current police trainer who is troubled by the imposition of woke dogma by the grievance industry upon supposedly apolitical bodies.

It is clear that the opponents of GB News are fearful of it becoming a success. They cite Suella Braverman’s decision to talk exclusively with the channel as right-wing propaganda, but the truth is GB News is the only station that gives politicians of every stripe the chance to speak ad rem without cynical interruption.

There is hopefully little prospect of the naysayers winning this battle and censoring the most important voice in British broadcasting. They are baffled at how the station attracts big names such as John Cleese, but the answer is simple: decent open-minded people just want to hear a broad range of honest opinions.

As a fan of GB News, I am mindful that it needs to smarten up its act in some areas, but I am enthused by its potential. Proper documentaries, the reporting of global news, professional sets and a revamped online presence are needed to push toward being the nation’s leading news channel – a status it rightly deserves.

I am pleased that GB News has made good progress in two years, despite fierce opposition, attempts at censorship and countless ignorant slurs. If you’re the target of ad hominem attacks rather than evidenced criticism, you must be doing something right. Congratulations on your second birthday, GB News.