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GB News, the biggest news TV channel to launch in the UK since Sky News 30 years ago, has signed former Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallagher and former ITN newsreader Alastair Stewart to join its presenting line-up.
It has also launched a UK-wide recruitment drive for video journalists and revealed its Freeview channel number.
Andrew Neil, who will present a nightly news programme on the channel containing “Wokewatch” and “Mediawatch” segments, has said it “will not be shouty, angry television” and insisted it will conform to Ofcom rules on impartiality.
The channel plans to air 6,500 hours a year of “original news, opinion and debate”, eschewing rolling news for appointment-to-view programming.
The channel’s director of news, John McAndrew, is a 25-year industry veteran who has worked for the BBC, Sky News, ITN and NBC.
There has been a backlash against the channel after reports in The Guardian, Evening Standard and City AM that it will adopt a Fox News style approach. McAndrew noted on his Twitter account that it will be “free, fair, impartial” and “Ofcom regulated”. Ofcom has a requirement that news channels show due impartiality when covering political issues.
We’ve rounded up everything you need to know ahead of the launch and will keep this page updated with the latest announcements.
[Read more: Andrew Neil sets out anti ‘woke’ vision for GB News as channel faces campaign for advertising boycott]
GB News start date
The channel’s launch date has not yet been confirmed.
Neil said last year it was aiming for a March 2021 launch but on 18 March the broadcaster said it would be launching “later this year”.
Where will GB News be based?
The GB News headquarters will be in Paddington, London.
GB News final logo
GB News channel presenters and journalists
Colin Brazier
Sky News journalist Colin Brazier is leaving the broadcaster after 23 years to anchor a daytime news, interview and debate programme on GB News.
“I’m delighted to be joining GB News,” he said. “It will be an important punctuation mark in the evolving story of news broadcasting in Britain and I’m thrilled to be there at the start.
“GB News will lend an ear to some of Britain’s marginalised and overlooked voices, an audience I have always cared about.
“I will treasure my time at Sky, working alongside some brilliant journalists but GB News is an irresistible new challenge, a chance to build an innovative news channel alongside some of British journalism’s most trusted names.”
GB News director of news John McAndrew, who worked with Brazier at Sky for more than a decade, said: “Hiring someone of Colin’s calibre clearly demonstrates our ambition for GB News and our commitment to journalism.”
Gloria De Piero
The ex-Labour MP and current Times Radio presenter will host a weekday afternoon programme on GB News.
She said: “My time as a constituency MP opened my eyes to the issues facing Britons today. I’m passionate about bringing their stories to life at GB News, making sure every community is heard and reflecting Britain as it really is through grassroots journalism.”
De Piero’s journalism career before entering politics included seven years as GMTV political editor and time working on BBC Sunday political programme On the Record.
Michelle Dewberry
Michelle Dewberry, who won The Apprentice in 2006 and stood as an independent pro-Brexit candidate and for The Brexit Party in her hometown of Hull in 2017 and 2019 respectively, will anchor a weekday evening primetime show.
Dewberry said: “I’m proud of my northern heritage and passionate about representing the voices of the working class.
“I want to stop people being left behind. We need a levelling up across the country – there’s more to the UK than London, and definitely more than two sides to every story. To me, that’s what GB News is all about.”
Dewberry has regularly appeared as a guest on news and current affairs programmes for the past decade including Question Time and The Pledge on Sky News, and is known for starting a number of businesses. She is also an ambassador for the likes of Women’s Aid and The Prince’s Trust.
McAndrew said: “Her plain-talking, no-nonsense approach, coupled with her fairness and openness to different views is exactly what our service aims to achieve.
“Michelle has the warmth but also the authority and the life experience to relate to many Britons who feel left out of our national conversation. She’s dynamic and utterly authentic.”
Andrew Doyle
Writer and comedian Andrew Doyle will host a weekly show called Free Speech Nation billed as featuring a “variety of guests and a lively, light-hearted look at current affairs”.
He is well-known for his satirical alter ego Titania McGrath, which parodies cultural issues on Twitter and he has written two books under this name. He has also just published a book called Free Speech and Why it Matters.
Doyle, also a stand-up comedian, was part of the writing duo behind spoof politics reporter Jonathan Pie until 2019 and has written for the likes of Spiked, The Spectator, The Telegraph, The Sun, The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
Inaya Folarin Iman
Freelance journalist Inaya Folarin Iman will join the morning presenting team five days a week.
She is involved in a number of initiatives to promote freedom of speech, including having founded Free Speech Champions and Equiano Project, which is focused on race, culture and politics. She will hand over her role at the former project before joining GB News.
She said: “Journalism is at its best when it’s committed to a diverse range of viewpoints and asking challenging questions, and I see this reflected in the ideals of GB News.”
McAndrew said: “Inaya has a refreshing take on stories and the warmth and intellect to bring out the best in interviews. Her youthful perspective will be a breath of fresh air in our national debate.”
Liam Halligan
Telegraph columnist and former Channel 4 News economics correspondent Liam Halligan is joining GB News as its economics and business editor and will co-host a daily lunchtime show on the channel.
Halligan said: “In an increasingly complex world, the community is hungry for analysis, explanation and a range of viewpoints – and that’s what we will deliver.”
Halligan will continue his Sunday Telegraph Economics Agenda column, which he has written for 18 years. He spent eight years leading Channel 4’s business coverage and was also a founding panellist of the discussion show CNN Talk.
Tom Harwood
Guido Fawkes senior reporter Tom Harwood, who has spent almost three years with the political blog, has been named political correspondent.
Harwood (pictured, right) has also written for the likes of the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator and often appears as a commentator on broadcast news.
McAndrew said of Harwood: “Tom is an incredibly bright and exciting young journalist with a hunger for finding new stories. He’s made a huge impact so far and has a very promising broadcast career ahead.”
Rebecca Hutson
Former Reach head of video Rebecca Hutson has been appointed as head of digital and will also appear as part of the GB News on-air team.
Kirsty Gallacher
Former Sky Sports and Sky Sports News presenter of more than 20 years Kirsty Gallacher is joining as part of GB News’ breakfast presenting team.
Director of news McAndrew said: “Kirsty’s warmth, openness and welcoming style is what GB News is all about. She’s a hugely skilled broadcaster and a fantastic addition to the GB News family.”
Darren McCaffrey
Euronews political editor Darren McCaffrey has been appointed to the same role at GB News.
He currently presents the flagship Raw Politics show on Euronews and previously spent almost ten years at Sky News.
He said: “Journalism is at its best when it reflects the widest range of views rather than just the loudest ones,
“I know only too well that local voices are sometimes left out and GB News’ mission to change that is something I’m incredibly excited to be part of.”
Director of news John McAndrew described McCaffrey as “without doubt one of the best political journalists in the country with an exceptional ability to challenge convention, seek out fresh angles and tell us what’s really going on.
“He’s a fearless interviewer with a boundless enthusiasm that’s compelling on air.”
Simon McCoy
Simon McCoy has been at the BBC for 17 years as an anchor, reporter and newsreader and currently presents the Afternoon Live programme.
He will join GB News to present a rival afternoon show.
McAndrew said: “Simon’s journalistic integrity, warmth and personality is a perfect fit for what we’re doing at GB News.
“He’s a brilliant journalist with an exceptional ability to relate to people in an upbeat way so we’re keen to get him out from behind a desk and talking to people from all parts of the United Kingdom.”
Some of McCoy’s moments of “dry wit” on air have gone viral, as has his weariness at reporting royal news including the time he said “the news is, there’s no news” while waiting for the Duchess of Cambridge to give birth.
As @BBCSimonMcCoy has said he is leaving BBC News, here is a thread of his best bits.
Starting with this iconic Royal Baby announcement: pic.twitter.com/GKb4nQOp7J
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) March 25, 2021
Mercy Muroki
Mercy Muroki, a social policy researcher who has written for The Times and The Sun, will co-host a daytime programme ” that tackles many of the everyday issues affecting people across the United Kingdom”.
Muroki said she is passionate about including perspectives of more Britons, particularly those from outside London, in TV news and debate.
“Too many people with common-sense views are dismissed when in fact they’ve got something really valuable to add to our national conversation,” she said.
“We need to be much bolder in allowing sensible people to speak their minds without being ridiculed or shut down. I’m excited that GB News will be a welcoming place to challenge stereotypes in a non-judgemental way.”
Andrew Neil
As well as his role as chairman, Andrew Neil will host a flagship evening programme between 8pm and 9pm four nights a week.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Media Show it will be “pretty segmented so it can be replayed in digital format” with a monologue to begin, main story, Wokewatch, main interview, Mediawatch, and regular guests like Michael Portillo and Diane Abbott on his former BBC show This Week.
He said the Mediawatch segment would hold GB News to account as well as other media.
Neil Oliver
Archaeologist and TV presenter Oliver, whose career started as a local reporter on the Annandale Observer before he moved into broadcasting, will host a weekly current affairs and interview programme centred on “the
people from all walks of life who make Britain great”.
Oliver is best known for presenting BBC documentary series including A History of Scotland, A History of Ancient Britain, A History of Celtic Britain, Vikings and Coast.
He said: “My career has always been driven by my fascination about people, whether it’s trying to understand ancient people through archaeology or living ones through journalism.
“Debate in this country has been stifled for so long that GB News feels like opening a window and letting in some fresh air, fresh perspectives and fresh voices. I never imagined my career would take this turn but I’m hugely excited that it has.”
Alex Phillips
Phillips, a former Brexit Party MEP who contributes to the Telegraph and hosts a twice-weekly show on Talkradio, will co-host a weekday afternoon programme on GB News.
She started her career in journalism at ITV Wales, ITV Tyne Tees and BBC Wales and has reported from India, China and Ghana. She worked as UKIP’s head of media for three years before being elected to European Parliament for the six months before Britain left the EU, and then decided to return to journalism.
McAndrew described her as a “hugely talented journalist who deeply understands the issues and stories that nonmetropolitan Britons want to talk about”.
“She has a fantastic energy that comes across on air and an infectious enthusiasm for what we are doing at GB News,” she said.
Alastair Stewart
Alastair Stewart is joining GB News to host a weekend news and current affairs programme.
He left ITV News, produced by ITN, 14 months ago after 45 years as a local and national TV news anchor. He is a former RTS news presenter of the year and received the OBE for his charity work.
He said: “GB News is a unique opportunity to broaden the spectrum, challenge the groupthink and shift away from a predictable agenda in news and debate. I can’t wait to get stuck in and tackle issues that really matter to people across the United Kingdom.”
Stewart left his job at ITN over “errors of judgement” in his use of social media.
Dan Wootton
Sun executive editor and Talkradio drivetime presenter Dan Wootton has become GB News’ first big on-air signing despite his employer News UK working on plans of their own for a TV service aimed at Brits who feel disillusioned with the BBC.
Wootton has been at The Sun for seven years and broke some major showbiz scoops, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure to the US branded “Megxit”.
[Read more: Harry and Meghan are ‘professional victims’ says Sun journalist who broke royal split story]
Wootton said the chance to join GB News was “just too good to pass up”.
“I feel passionately about GB News’ bold vision to bring a fresh approach to television news and debate that embraces all voices and opinions across Britain,” he said.
Wootton is simultaneously joining Mail Online to write a twice-weekly column in which he said he will continue to break stories.
Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke said: “We have long been admirers of his work at the Sun. “It will be a privilege to work with the man who broke Megxit and we look forward to him sharing his unique insights and brilliant exclusives with Mail Online’s millions of readers.”
Rosie Wright
Euronews breakfast anchor Rosie Wright, who has hosted Good
Morning Europe for two years, will join GB News as part of its breakfast presenting line-up.
Wright started her journalism career at LBC and has hosted programmes for BBC Radio 4, Premier Christian Radio, Love Sport Radio and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
At Euronews she has also worked as social media correspondent for The Cube, its fact-checking news desk that debunks online misinformation.
GB News regional reporting network
GB News said it wanted to find “new voices from every part of the country… to help us shake things up”.
The first member of its regional reporting team to be announced was Rachel Sweeney from County Durham who has spent 13 years at ITV Tyne Tees and presented the North East headlines for Good Morning Britain for nine years. She will be a North East reporter.
Second was BBC Radio Wales journalist of two years Lily Hewitson, who has also worked at Cardiff TV and was said to be “passionate about including Wales in the national conversation”.
GB News executive producers
McAndrew described the first three executive producers to be hired as “exceptional journalists and programme makers with the experience and ambition to do news differently.
“They also share our vision to reach out to non-metropolitan audiences beyond London and engage them in our national conversation.”
Former BBC Question Time editor and CNN director of news programming Gill Penlington has been named senior executive producer.
Alex Farrell, the executive producer behind Talkradio’s breakfast show, and Sky News assistant editor Amanda Hall have both joined as executive producers.
LBC’s Christian Mitchell has since signed on as another executive producer. At LBC he has produced programmes for political figures including Alastair Campbell, Ken Livingstone, Tom Watson, and David Lammy.
He was executive producer of LBC’s breakfast show with Nick Ferrari for five years and helped establish programmes including Ask Boris with Boris
Johnson as London Mayor and Phone Farage with Nigel Farage.
[Read more: BBC will beat GB News and Murdoch TV by ‘doubling down’ on trust, says Tim Davie]
Who is behind GB News?
The broadcaster has been founded by media executives Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider, both of whom have had associations with Virgin Media owner Liberty Global which is run by John Malone, a major shareholder of GB News investor Discovery.
Cole has written on his Linkedin page of his quest for the “truth in news”, to provide viewers with something “very different” and “challenge the BBC and other incumbent news channels”.
Former Sky News executive editor John McAndrew is director of news and programming and ex-Sky News Australia chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos is CEO.
Experienced media and entertainment executive Marc Schipper, formerly head of strategy at Liberty, is chief operating officer.
GB News investors, led by Discovery
Discovery Inc, the US-based network which has a documentary partnership with the BBC in the UK, was the first major investor with reports of it investing around £20m.
Dubai-based investment group Legatum, known for its funding of think tank the Legatum Institute which launched in 2007, has also come on board.
The third major investor announced so far is Sir Paul Marshall, the prominent co-founder of UK hedge fund Marshall Wace who was a donor to the Vote Leave campaign. His stake in GB News is in a personal capacity.
The full amount of investment raised has not been revealed but is understood to be in the region of £60m.
[Read more: Dubai-based investment group and pro-Brexit investor among £60m funders to back GB News]
Will GB News be right-wing?
CEO Frangopoulos has said GB News is “committed to impartial journalism” and looking for a “range of voices and perspectives”.
In a letter complaining about a Guardian column Frangopoulos said: “GB News will be staunchly independent. That is our point. Our investors know this, our journalists will know it and so will our viewers. We aim to serve British communities who feel poorly represented by mainstream television media, especially outside London.
“We are proud to be adding plurality to UK media by investing in journalism that will be as diverse and broad-minded as the British people themselves.
“We are absolutely committed to our mission to report news in the most accurate and balanced way we can.”
Nevertheless it has frequently been tipped as the UK’s answer to US right-wing channel Fox News, with journalists approached to get involved telling the Telegraph it was pitched to them as a right-wing alternative to the BBC.
Broadcast TV channels in the UK face stricter regulation than the US, with Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code stating they must adhere to “due impartiality” across their programming.
But due impartiality is less restrictive than viewers may think, meaning GB News is likely to be able to have a right-leaning stance balanced out by guests, for example, sharing the other side of the argument.
Ofcom’s rules state it “does not mean an equal division of time has to be given to every view, or that every argument and every facet of every argument has to be represented.
“The approach to due impartiality may vary according to the nature of the subject, the type of programme and channel, the likely expectation of the audience as to content, and the extent to which the content and approach is signalled to the audience.”
Neil has described his expectation that GB News anchors will have a “bit of edge, a bit of attitude, personality”.
He later told the BBC’s Media Show the UK’s current broadcast news media “all come from various shades of left” and called the BBC “moderate centre left” with a “metropolitan outlook”.
Asked about the fact some of GB News’ presenters have former associations with the Brexit Party and UKIP, Neil added: “Brexit’s over, it’s done. If a number of our presenters were on the Brexit side of the argument so what?
“90% of the BBC’s presenters were on the Remain side of the argument so what’s the point? They still did their jobs properly. The main presenters of the BBC still covered the referendum in the proper way they did and I would expect our journalists to do the same.”
GB News jobs
GB News launched a recruitment drive for 140 jobs, including 120 journalists.
It revealed on 19 February that more than 2,000 people had applied for the editorial roles.
Roles included producers of all levels, video journalists and reporters, technical production journalists, creative journalists and executive assistants.
The job adverts called for staff who can “tap into what the country is talking about” and do “not want to make traditional news or follow what everyone else is doing”.
They went on: “We’re looking for brilliant journalists from all backgrounds to help us shake things up.
“You’ll be bursting with ideas and determined to find original stories and new voices from every part of the country.
“You’ll be a disruptor and an innovator who approaches the news in a provocative and entertaining way.
“We are serious about changing things, so only apply if you genuinely want to make a difference and reflect the stories and issues that really matter to the people of the UK.”
[Read more: GB News launches recruitment drive for 140 jobs and declares commitment to ‘impartial journalism’]
As of 15 March GB News was still recruiting for several roles including video journalists from across the UK ” with a passion for on-the-ground reporting from a patch they truly know and understand” and producers of all levels.
How can I watch GB News?
GB News has signed a long-term deal with TV transmitter network Arqiva to reach 96% of UK households through all major UK platforms including Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, YouView and Freesat.
Its Freeview number will be 236, meaning it will come after (in order) BBC News, BBC Parliament, Sky News, RT and Al Jazeera.
Its channel numbers for other services are yet to be announced.
CEO Frangopoulos said the deal would give GB News the “reach to rival that of the major public service broadcasters”.
GB News will also have streaming, video-on-demand and audio services, more details of which have yet to be announced.
Will GB News make money?
[Read more: Why advertisers are positive about new anchor-led news channel for UK]
Rob Keery, agency storyteller at media buying agency Anything Is Possible, has told Press Gazette that GB News’ timing “is pretty good”.
This is due to advances in technology resulting in a fall in the cost of producing TV adverts and TV ad placements dipping to their lowest price in 20 years during the Covid-19 crisis.
All these factors will be to the new channel’s advantage as “brands who wouldn’t normally think of themselves as TV advertisers” will start seeing it as an affordable option, said Keery.
Added to this is the emergence of programmatic ad buying technology for TV, brought over from digital, which will make it easier for brands to target their ads and measure their impact.
Matt Rhodes, head of brand engagement strategy at media agency Engine, added that the channel’s ad-funded model will need to “attract a more specific audience” that will be “of interest to some, but not all, brands and so can command a significant level of ad revenue”.
What if there’s an advertising boycott?
Campaign group Stop Funding Hate, which has previously led campaigns calling on advertisers to boycott the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Sun, has launched a drive against GB News even before its launch.
The group is asking people to tweet their banks and other providers using the hashtag #DontFundGBNews urging them not to advertise with the channel to “help stop the ‘Foxification’ of British media”.
Neil described the “woke warriors” behind the advertising boycott as “hilarious”.
In his role as chairman of The Spectator he has previously threatened to ban Co-op from advertising with the magazine after the supermarket said it would no longer place ads over its coverage of transgender issues.
But newspapers on the receiving end of Stop Funding Hate campaigns have in the past been rattled enough by its impact on advertisers to meet with its representatives.
Interviewed on Good Morning Britain on 9 February, Neil said: “I’ve been broadcasting for 40 years on and off, I’ve never engaged in hate – there will be no hate on GB News. I find it rather hateful that they think I would go down that road of hate.
“There is a particular strand of opinion in this woke group that says ‘its not enough that I disagree with you, I want to stop what you are doing’.”
What newsroom technology is behind GB News?
GB News claims it will be Europe’s “most nimble and sophisticated multi-platform broadcast newsroom” after signing a deal with systems integrator Mediability.
Mediability’s DiNA system allows journalists to broadcast on several platforms at once, while automating aspects of story production.
GB News chief operating officer Marc Schipper said: “As a start-up, we need to innovate and do more with less, to punch above our weight against far larger and better-resourced news operations.
“GB News will be the only entirely cloud-based newsroom in the country. It means we’ll be lean but also that our journalists can deliver more features for viewers, more immediately and efficiently than ever.”
Mediability said the system allows journalists to collaborate on stories from any location.
“As well as broadcasting live to air, they can prepare material across other online platforms including Twitter or Facebook and use immediate tools such as graphics, almost real-time translations, captions and AI-recognition of stored broadcast clips.”
Picture: Press Gazette
The post GB News latest signings, schedule and where to watch: In-depth briefing appeared first on Press Gazette.
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