GB News: New TV channel launches with technical problems, Covid conspiracies and Nigel Farage

Leonie Chao-Fong
·4 min read
Andrew Neil (GB News)
Andrew Neil (GB News)

The new TV network GB News hit the airwaves on Sunday night after months of heated speculation over its potential impact on the British political discourse, triumphant announcements of presenters poached from rivals, and combative Twitter spats with critics.

The 24-hour-channel launched at 8pm with a special programme called Welcome to GB News hosted by the channel’s chairman and former BBC heavyweight Andrew Neil.

Neil kicked off the launch by introducing the GB News team, including the former Brexit Party candidate and The Apprentice winner Michelle Dewberry, ex-Sky News reporter Colin Brazier, and former The Sun showbiz columnist Dan Wootton.

Describing the network as the “new kid on the block”, Neil promised GB News would not be “an echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset” and would feature “passionate presenters with strong heartfelt personalities and a flair and sense of humour” who “empower those who feels their concerns have been unheard”.

He said: “We are proud to be British, the clue is in the name, and while we will never hold back from covering our country’s many flaws and problems... we won’t forget what the B stands for in our title.

“We will puncture the pomposity of our elites... and expose their growing promotion of cancel culture for the threat to free speech and democracy that it is.”

Neil, who four nights a week will host an hour-long flagship show at 8pm, then attempted to interview his first guest, TV historian and anti-lockdown presenter Neil Oliver.

But the channel’s opening interview was plagued by audio issues, with Oliver inaudible and the show’s producers overheard whispering to each other.

Neil and his associates hope GB News will rival the likes of the BBC and Sky News with a mixture of “original news, opinion and debate”.

But with branding heavy in the colours of the Union Jack and featuring segments labelled Wokewatch and Free Speech Nations, fears have been raised that the channel could herald the arrival of highly partisan Fox News-style coverage in the UK.

Such suspicions are unlikely to have been allayed by Wooton’s first programme, which immediately followed the introductory show presented by Neil.

Tonight Live with Dan Wootton began with a lengthy monologue from the former showbiz journalist criticising the expected delay to England’s exit from the remaining Covid lockdown restrictions.

“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,” he claimed. He urged viewers to “fight back” against “doomsday scientists” who he suggested were “taking control” and were “addicted to the power,” and accused the government of running a Covid “scare campaign” which had “terrified the public into supporting lockdowns”.

Despite Neil’s earlier pledge that GB News would champion unheard voices, Wootton’s first guests on the show included Nigel Farage, a mainstay of the stations’s mainstream broadcast rivals.

Other high-profile signings for the channel include former Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher, ex-BBC presenter Simon McCoy and former ITV presenter Alastair Stewart offered viewers a taste of their respective programmes from various locations around the GB News studio in Paddington, west London.

McCoy, who will co-host an afternoon programme on the channel, said comparisons between GB News and Fox News were “unfortunate”.

Speaking to PA news agency ahead of the station’s launch, McCoy said: “I think it will be a more friendly approach to news. We’re not a news channel in the sense of Sky News or the BBC, because we can never do what they do, we’re not going to be telling you what’s happening in all corners of the globe, and nice polished packages that go with that.

“We’re much more about getting a feel of what matters to people and reflecting that.”

He added: “I think we need to talk about things that others find uncomfortable, or perhaps too difficult or fearing to tread where they may touch some nerves.

“I don’t think we’ll be afraid to tread anywhere. And if there’s one particular story that we know people are talking about, we’re gonna stick with it. And we’ll take people’s calls, we’ll talk to them and if there are people that they have questions to ask, we’ll try and get them on air to answer them.”

BBC media editor and former Independent editor Amol Rajan has also suggested the comparison between GB News and Fox News is “limited”, though he noted the British channel “is the first to be set up with an explicit political leaning”.

Adam Baxter, director of standards and audience protection at the regulator Ofcom, has also described the station as offering an “unapologetically partisan, right-of-centre take on events”.

GB News is available on Sky on channel 515, Freeview channel 236 and Virgin Media channel 626.

Read More

Who is behind GB News and what is channel’s agenda?

BBC criticised for showing footage of Christian Eriksen receiving CPR on pitch

Louise Minchin: BBC Breakfast presenter set to leave show after 20 years

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Shoppers in their 50s and 60s gush about this No. 1 bestselling moisturizer with sunscreen and it’s just $15

    When the sun's out, this is the cream that over 62,000 rave reviewers reach for.

  • Earnings Calendar, Analyst Estimates And Stocks To Watch

    When searching for the best stocks to buy and watch, look for companies with strong earnings growth – and check the earnings calendar to see when they report. Be sure to also see our latest list of stocks  just added to — or removed from — IBD's top screens.

  • Chevrolet Equinox Plus is a PHEV for China, maybe America

    The 2025 Chevrolet Equinox Plus, a plug-in hybrid SUV, recently debuted at the Beijing Auto Show, promising a long driving range and familiar styling.

  • Takeaways from AP's investigation into fatal police encounters involving injections of sedatives

    The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by the AP in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism. That’s nearly 10% of the more

  • Where the Men Taken Down With Harvey by #MeToo Are Now

    Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesHarvey Weinstein, whose New York rape conviction was just overturned, may have been the biggest #MeToo villain. But there are plenty of other bold-faced names in that rogue’s gallery. In the space of a couple of years, powerhouses of the entertainment, media, culinary, and political worlds would find themselves in disgrace as accusers came forward with stories of harassment, discrimination, and worse.Despite this week’s court rulin

  • The Power of Us: As EV demand slows, a new alternative fuel garners attention

    While electric vehicles' share of the automotive market is still growing, the rate at which Americans are buying new electric vehicles appears to be slowing. Kelley Blue Book reports that just under 270,000 EVs were sold in the first quarter of this year. "Something I'll say is that electric vehicles are for the patient," says Oleksiy Golub, who's driven EVs since 2020.

  • Alberta to pilot new social studies curriculum in the fall after facing blowback

    EDMONTON — Alberta's government says a new draft social studies curriculum for elementary schools is ready to be tested in classrooms this fall. But the union representing teachers says the curriculum is a fail and the rollout needs to be delayed. The United Conservative Party government first tried three years ago to update the province's decades-old curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 6 classes. It was condemned by many education experts for being age-inappropriate and too focused on memoriza

  • David Pecker’s fourth day of testimony: Trump’s hush-money trial at a glance

    Donald Trump is the first former president to face criminal charges. Here’s what you need to know about the New York case

  • Relegation-threatened Bochum grabs vital win over leaky Hoffenheim

    BOCHUM, Germany (AP) — Kevin Stöger scored twice as Bochum won for the first time in nine Bundesliga games by a nervy 3-2 over a leaky Hoffenheim on Friday. Hoffenheim has not kept a clean sheet for 26 games, a record run for the Bundesliga side. Hoffenheim remained in ninth place after missing a chance to leapfrog Augsburg and Freiburg and move into seventh. Hoffenheim had a penalty award rescinded after a video review midway through the first half and then fell behind to a superb Stöger free k

  • Courteney Cox Shares Her 1 Parenting Regret About Daughter Coco Arquette

    The "Friends" star raised her daughter with actor David Arquette.

  • Students Denied High School Graduation Due to COVID May Miss Out Again amid College Protests

    “We’ve missed out on enough,” said one senior, who also acknowledged it seems trivial "to complain about graduation when people’s lives are on the line"

  • I am not the Baby Reindeer stalker, insists woman targeted online

    A woman who claims to have been targeted online following the release of Netflix show Baby Reindeer has insisted she is not the stalker who inspired the series.

  • Voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada' Bob Cole never considered moving out of St. John's

    ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundlanders remember legendary "Hockey Night in Canada" sportscaster Bob Cole as a national star who proved that someone from the country's easternmost province could make it big on the mainland, all without moving away. Cole's connection to Newfoundland and Labrador, including his home in the provincial capital, was "everything" to him, said Megan Cole, his daughter, in a message Friday. "Many times through his career he was asked to move for the job, was offered broadcas

  • Mississippi legislative leaders swap proposals on possible Medicaid expansion

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Senate leaders on Friday said for the first time that they are willing to expand Medicaid to the full level allowed under a federal law signed 14 years ago by then-President Barack Obama. But as part of negotiations with fellow Republicans in the House, key senators also continued to insist that any Medicaid expansion plan include a work requirement for recipients. Georgia is the only state with a similar requirement, and it is suing the federal government to tr

  • Woman pleads guilty to being accessory in fatal freeway shooting of 6-year-old boy

    The Orange County Register reports that Wynne Lee, 26, entered the plea Friday in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Lee was sentenced to four years in prison and given credit for time served and good behavior, the newspaper reported. In May 2021, Lee was driving to work with her boyfriend, Marcus Eriz, when the driver of another car made a rude gesture after she was cut off on the highway.

  • Family begs jail to give man life-saving medicine — but get ignored, suit says. He died

    “Man, I’m not going to make it, I’m going to die in here,” the man said while jailed in Virginia, according to the lawsuit.

  • Commerce Department announces new restrictions on U.S. firearms exports

    The Commerce Department on Friday announced new restrictions on U.S. firearms exports in an effort to prevent the guns from ending up in the hands of drug traffickers and criminals in other nations. Oversight of legal firearms exports has become a political struggle in Washington since the Trump administration in 2020 moved oversight from the State Department to the Commerce Department — a move that was widely seen as favorable to the firearms industry. President Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign pledged to reverse the move “if needed.”

  • Inquest into Northern Ireland Catholic murders halted after MI5 blocks intelligence release

    MI5 has blocked the release of intelligence over the murders of four Catholics in Northern Ireland more than 30 years ago, prompting a coroner to halt an inquest.

  • Kim Kardashian meets with VP Harris, pardoned prisoners at White House

    Kim Kardashian made a return to the White House this week to discuss criminal justice reform with Vice President Kamala Harris. The reality TV star — and billionaire business mogul — joined a roundtable discussion Thursday regarding the 11 pardons issued and five sentences commuted by President Joe Biden the day prior. Kardashian was joined by Jason Hernandez, Bobby Lowery, Jesse Mosley and ...

  • Microsoft is 'the highest quality company one can own': Analyst

    With Wall Street at the center of a busy tech earnings cycle, investors may seek to identify tech stocks worth adding to their portfolios. Washington Crossing Advisors Senior Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder Chad Morganlander joins Market Domination for the latest edition of Good Buy or Goodbye, providing insight on the hottest tech plays.  Morganlander names Microsoft (MSFT) his "good buy," claiming it is the "highest quality company one can own," with its rising dividend payment to investors. He also cites its highly diversified AI strategy and subscription models, which lower earnings volatility. The senior portfolio manager calls IBM (IBM) his "goodbye," claiming it is a lower-quality company with a high valuation for its debt. The infrastructure and consulting units of the company are also lagging, he adds. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination. This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino