Andrew Neil
(Picture: GB News)GB News, the newest news broadcaster in the UK, launched on Sunday evening and so far things have been interesting, to say the least.
Talk of the right-leaning ‘anti woke’ channel came about in late 2020 following the revelation that Andrew Neil was leaving the BBC after 25 years.
This new non-politically correct channel was described by commentators as a UK alternative to Fox News – a comparison Neil doesn’t like – where presenters and contributors could speak freely without being reprimanded. It doesn’t show rolling news but is more of a comment space where they will read out the thoughts of viewers and feature man guest contributors.
Although it has tried to stick to that mantra, that has possibly been the least talked about element of the channel, which seems to be struggling to get anything right.
There has been the odd controversy but, more noticeably, GB News has fallen prey to numerous pranks and technical issues that make it look considerably amateur and nothing even close to the output seen across the pond on Fox.
After just seven days, GB News has racked up scores of embarrassing moments. Here are some that left us with our head in our hands.
Prank names
Perhaps the biggest and most consistent gaffe that has befallen GB News is a Simpsons-like gag of people using fake names as crude puns. You can imagine this sort of thing happens all the time but GB News has fallen foul to names including Mike Hunt, Mike Oxlong, Hugh Janus and Cleo Torez. Oh dear...
It’s a technological car crash. Either there’s a real Mike Hunt out there, or someone was having a laugh… editorial discretion should be advised… #GBNews pic.twitter.com/jhCPl6cwdO
— Ian Pinnell (@ianpinnell) June 15, 2021
All going splendidly at Andrew Neil’s joke far-right TV station. Following on from Michelle Dewberry falling for the classic “Mike Hunt” prank call, here’s former Brexit Party MEP Alexandra Phillips live on air, reading out a message from one Mike Oxlong. pic.twitter.com/UuPcrLAUxv
— Nicholas Pegg (@NicholasPegg) June 16, 2021
Oh my days. Cleo Torez gets a mention before the watershed #GBNews pic.twitter.com/ni143ol0Tz
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 16, 2021
Veteran newsreader Simon McCoy was not impressed.
Simons sick of emails from Hugh Janus. Plus premature ejingleation! #gbnews pic.twitter.com/EwhfU2dgFy
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 16, 2021
Lady Colin Campbell claims Jeffery Epstein wasn’t a paedophile
Perhaps the most controversial moment on the channel so far was when Lady Colin Campbell claimed that the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who has links to Prince Andrew, wasn’t a paedophile but was in fact an ‘ephebophile’ – aka someone who is attracted to teenagers aged between 15 and 19. She then went to make several accusations against Bill Clinton.
Well it’s certainly different. pic.twitter.com/HrS2bIy1Lg
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) June 15, 2021
The studio
GB News is based in Paddington, London but unlike This Morning or BBC Breakfast, there is no indication to where they are actually located. In fact their studio looks more like a conference room in an office and is so dimly light and surrounded by dark colours that it is often hard to make out what is going on. Also, their interview space looks more like something from a cheap Star Wars knockoff. Viewers have, of course, have noticed.
First impression GB News, crap. Did they pay a studio designer or just buy a garage door with some cheap light sabres? First 10mins, mic failure with 'its all about me' Andrew Neil & had the feel of a mid west US community TV station with religious overtones. @SkyNews, no worries pic.twitter.com/zcttGjOTqa
— The Irish Pirate Radio Archive 🇮🇪 📻 (@IBHallofFame) June 13, 2021
Just for £5 a month, you could provide GB news with more studio lights https://t.co/6t2jaKaOfs
— Ryan Peck 🇬🇧🏴 (@RyanPeck18) June 17, 2021
In the gloom of the GB News studio a bookcase lurks. Lights, a globe and some sort of shrub assure us this room offers enlightenment, breadth of understanding and growth. The books tell us all this is founded in knowledge. The war on woke will be fought with the mind. En garde! pic.twitter.com/5PCka2gWfR
— Bookcase Credibility (@BCredibility) June 15, 2021
Alan Sugar
One of the stations first guest was Lord Alan Sugar who was interviewed by Dan Wootton on his regular nightly show. However, The Apprentice host wasn’t in any way enthusiastic about the questions he was being asked and actually called Wootton “stupid.”
Alan Sugar, spends his segment slagging off Dan Wooton's "stupid" questions and telling Wooton (of his former employer) that the only thing you can believe in The Sun is "the date and price on the front page."
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) June 13, 2021
Don't think he'll be booked again. pic.twitter.com/pIusS0mAXD
Enjoyed this incisive political commentary from Alan Sugar on GB News where he says he doesn’t know who any government ministers are and doesn’t care about them anyway
— Tom Richell (@tomrichell) June 13, 2021
Hope he’s a regular feature pic.twitter.com/fCoqexDV0o
Ofcom complaints
On Wootton’s first show on the channel, the former showbiz journalist and executive editor of The Sun went on a rant criticising the further extensions of coronavirus restrictions across the UK. “It’s increasingly clear now that there is a move among some public health officials and politicians to create an ultra-cautious biosecurity state, copying the likes of China,” the 38-year-old complained. This resulted in 373 complaints being made to Ofcom. Not a great look for literally the stations first few hours on the air.
Technical problems
The channel has experienced a raft of technical failures. Literally everything from the sound being out of sync, the ticker along the bottom not working, DIY going on in the background and autocues breaking down. You name it, it’s already happened on GB News. The Twitter account GB News Fails has been doing a sterling effort of documenting all of these. Here are some highlights – or should we say lowlights.
What a beautiful fail. I’m starting to worry how I’ll get through the weekend. #GBNewsFails https://t.co/r0hduJCkfz
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 18, 2021
Maybe they were giving the cameras a little rest. #GBNewsFails https://t.co/gjLy4eFVYq
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 18, 2021
The autocue is meant to be a life saver, or so I’m told. #GBNewsFails https://t.co/ooksBTtKkn
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 18, 2021
I wonder if they brought the ladder in to try and put some more lights in. Or microphones. Who knows. Answers via morse code snail mail please only. #GBNewsFails pic.twitter.com/vRNq6usPRw
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 17, 2021
You looking at? #GBNewsFails pic.twitter.com/TFuJIB6GKF
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 17, 2021
He’s gone. He’s back! #GBNewsFails pic.twitter.com/zAWMm1ArMJ
— GBNews Fails (@GBNewsFails) June 17, 2021
We could honestly post hundreds of these.
Andrew Neil’s monologue
GB News launched on Sunday 13th June with a monologue from Neil who claimed that the channel will be reporting on the “views and values” that make up the United Kingdom and the “people’s agenda” and not the “metropolitan mindset.” Neil also claimed that GB News would not be pushing “fake narratives” or “conspiracy theories.” This came just an hour before the Wootton segment about lockdowns that warranted so many complaints. This, combined with the strange saturation and the sound being out of sync, made for quite an eye-opening first segment
Someone got their bum out
The biggest bum note so far on GB News has to be when Cultaholic’s Adam Pacitti sent a video into Wootton for his interview with former London mayoral candidate Laurence Fox. What anyone at GB News failed to notice was that Pacitti had his bum out and could clearly be seen in the mirror behind him.
A solid night's work. https://t.co/jFruuTxPM7
— Adam Pacitti (@adampacitti) June 16, 2021
All that, after just one week. Things can only get better, right?
