GB News has sacked both Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson. Despite my comments regarding the crass and unnecessary nature of Fox’s comments, this sets a really bad precedent – even more so with Robinsons. For all that he did was defend the free speech principle. I can understand – understand, not agree – with the dismissal of Fox, for he made the comments in question and brought the whole furore crashing about their heads, but Robinson? No, all he did was make a valid point about free speech – a principle that GB News appears now not to go along with.
Fellow host Calvin was sacked after stating bosses were “scared” of regulator Ofcom, who had launched an investigation into the interview following thousands of complaints.
And they have demonstrated that he is objectively correct in his assessment. In so doing, they have lost a good presenter, a reasoned voice in an ever increasingly hostile environment, and made themselves look weak and cowardly.
The whole point about defending liberty, is that you have to be prepared to take the flak from the enemy. GB News clearly can’t. As for Ofcom, they need to be told to get fucked good and hard.
To me, the odious aspect of this affair is the contrast in the reaction of the regulator to the Left Wing Black Broadcasting Corporation and GB News.
The BBC can spout disinformation and lies to its hearts content. It conducts its own investigations into its own misdemeanours and concludes that it was perfect. Subsequent third party investigations show that was just a cover up. It employs strange creepy people who commit acts that are criminal at worst and very suspicious at best.
Ofcom ignores it all. A channel where an employee makes a distasteful remark about a disgusting person panics over the threat of an Ofcom investigation and sacks the employee.
And an employee who merely reminded them that they were supposed to be the home of free speech.
Fox should have been above locker room comments, by doing so he put himself in the firing line, he could have made far more cutting remarks by staying polite…my sister is incredibly well spoken never swears eats the Oxford English dictionary for breakfast, an insult in her cut glass tones can leave one reeling (once you’ve translated all the long words).
Presumably Neil Oliver will be next, he’s the only one i bother with now on GBN so once he’s been cancelled that’s it for me, don’t watch live anyway cos no telly licence.
Mark Steyn did a good piece on this, worth looking on his site.
My views on Fox’s comments are the same. There was plenty of meat to get his teeth into without resorting to the ad hom. He gave them this victory on a plate.
And while you are all looking the other way…
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/02/scientists-whose-work-enabled-mrna-covid-vaccine-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine-katalin-kariko-drew-weissman
Calvin Robinson publicly bad-mouthed his employer. Of course they sacked him.
Imagine a prominent and senior employee in any other company saying
‘The company’s management are making enormous mistakes in their policy and behaving dishonourably’ because that’s what Calvin Robinson did. You are either being remarkably naive or using mis-direction to steer us away from the issue.
False dichotomy and entirely wrong on both counts. Robinson did not bad mouth his employer, he reiterated what GB News was supposed to stand for. He subsequently lamented his silence when Mark Steyn was thrown under the bus. He was right to speak up and remind his employers what they stood for. This is not bad mouthing. Not even close. His sacking merely confirms that GB News is not only not a bastion of free speech, it is unable to take good advice from its friends.
I understand the Nobel Prize winning scientists were sponsored, or supported, by Pfizer. If so, I can only assume the Astra Zeneca supported scientists didn’t get the prize because they didn’t kill enough people.
I may be mistaken but I beliebe GB News is a Murdoch operation.
Murdoch and free speech are mutually exclusive.
Initially they may appear to discuss issues concerning supposedly contentious current affairs but as soon as some serious geopolitical situations are mentioned, out comes the same old tired, racist, bigoted U.K. establisnment line.
G B News is as main stream as the BBC/ITV/Channe 4 etc. Just a different colour lipstick on the same pig.
It isn’t.
Thankyou for the clarification. I believe then, was conflating them with Talk TV.
Yes, possibly.