Journalists don’t like programme that criticises journalism.
GB News fans were divided as some admitted to “turning” over from the channel over John Cleese’s new programme, The Dinosaur Hour.
The Fawlty Towers star made his GB News debut on Sunday as he launched the programme, which he stated was aimed at the “out of touch”.
The 84-year-old dedicated much of the episode to distrust in the press and chatted with several guests on the topic.
However, the opening show drew a mixed response from viewers.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, @MarkRossdog wrote: “Watched about 10 minutes. Seems to be a vehicle for Cleese to continue his crusade against the press. Just turned over and [they’re] still on it.”
So what? It’s a perfectly valid topic of discussion. It’s certainly something worth exploring given how dire is the standard of modern journalism. I’ve watched a snippet and it seemed fine to me – a sensible discussion about press standards and politicians cowing to the media moguls. But I can see why journalists wouldn’t like it, which is why they are publishing the kind of headlines in the article. Of course people are going to be divided. Some will like it, some won’t. Nothing to see here.
I think that everyone has become so used to the entire media marching in lockstep on pretty much every subject that you can name that something like this is indeed a shokka to a lot of people. Do you remember, a few years back, mainstream journalists were having a real go at bloggers? They were right to be afraid of them in my view, people doing their job better than they can and doing it for nothing is going to be seen as a threat I would think.
Sure, but it’s the “walking in lock-step” that’s the problem. Instead of being breaking news, real news, it’s just propaganda, whatever the media barons of the day have cooked up.
No wonder people are turning off their sets in droves at BBC, ITV and Sky drivel and have stopped buying newspapers.
If it weren’t for tax dodging and foreign sponsorship in the form of charity donations, papers like the Guardian would have gone bust a decade ago.
There’s a theme. GB News is regularly slated by the press. Great joy is shown in the alleged travails of X, formally know as Twitter. The Daily Mail is routinely decried (even after it back tracked on Brexit). The Sun and the News of the World found no supporters over their mis-deeds.
You cannot say it is all down to the quality of reporting – see the Grauniad or the European – poor content but ‘on the right side’.
Not yet as thorough as Big Brother, but who needs force when you can rely on self interest to publish newspeak attacks on wrong think?
The new entrants such as GB News are kept in line by OFCOM, who are mostly ex-BBC, ex-Grauniad types along with political refugees from Westminster (former SPADS and the like).
Every time they try to get out of their “neutrality trap” OFCOM fines them (or if they can’t be fined, issues some form of censure) to keep them in line.
OFCOM needs to be scrapped. It’s shown it’s failure with how it deals with the BBC (poorly) and for that alone it needs to go.