‘Proud to be a troublemaker’: GB News faces growing pains as she tries to clean up Image | GB news

[ad_1]

GB News entered the new year with a new plan: cutting costs, hiring more top talent, getting off the advertising blacklist – and forcing all producers and presenters to attend training workshops on “the law and Ofcom”.

The right-leaning, controversial TV channel, which spent a turbulent 18 months facing weather turbulence on and off and trying to shake its reputation as “Britain’s Fox News,” appears poised for growth.

JP News chief Alan McCormick aims to make the process more “disciplined” and none of the roughly 200 editorial staff will be spared.

In a new year letter to staff outlining work priorities in 2023, seen by the Guardian, McCormick said the first step would be a training schedule designed to help GB News avoid frequent falling foul with media regulator Ofcom’s broadcasting code.

“This will ensure that every producer and presenter has the most cutting-edge knowledge at their fingertips,” McCormick said. Initial workshops on law and Ofcom are essential for everyone without exception. Education is always a great investment.”

In its stated mission to be an insurgent and alternative force to the mainstream media, the channel continues to get embroiled in image-smearing controversies in the way its presenters and guests deal with topics including issues of culture war, anti-vaccine conspiracies and, most recently, anti-Semitism.

Ofcom launched 28 investigations into GB News’ output last year, finding 17 breaches of UK broadcasting law, and currently has two cases open relating to presenter Mark Steyn’s programme, which has raised repeated doubts about the safety of a Covid vaccine.

Ofcom has two open cases related to the Mark Stein programme, which has raised doubts about the safety of the Covid vaccine. Photo: JP News

However, while GB News offers measures to avoid getting on the wrong side of Ofcom, it will not avoid controversy entirely.

“We have voices that explore challenging topics and areas of discussion,” says Angelos Frangopoulos, CEO of GB News. “We have a wide range of opinion and journalistic experience across the business that is here to challenge and push boundaries.”

Getting one on TalkTV, the Rupert Murdoch channel built on a £45m deal with Piers Morgan, is another top priority.

GB News is understood to have poached Ben Briscoe, series editor on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, who also worked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Building credibility is another key aim, particularly after the reputational blow to the loss of names such as former main presenter and chairman Andrew Neil, and managing editor John McAndrew, a former Sky News executive who went to BBC News.

GB News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos says it has a “breadth of opinion”. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Recent appointments include Michael Portillo, The Daily Mail’s Andrew Pearce, and The Telegraph’s Camilla Tuminini, along with former ITV star Eamonn Holmes. They join an on-air lineup that includes the polarizing personality of Nigel Farage, who fronts GB News’ most popular programme.

“GB News prides itself on being a disruptor,” Frangopoulos says. “We are past the launch and early startup phase. We started from scratch and learned about [UK broadcasting] natural views. This is a year of growth for JP News.”

Growth is a commendable goal. Achieving this with the British economy expected to head into recession is another matter. Money-losing company JP News is set to make cuts this year – although not counting headcount – as the overall economic downturn takes its toll on its already shaky revenues.

“The fiscal climate couldn’t be tougher, so we have to be tougher,” McCormick told staff. “In almost every area of ​​the company, we need to be leaner, smarter, agile and disciplined.”

Among GB News’ recent hires is former journalist, broadcaster and politician Michael Portillo. Photo: Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock

Advertising is supposed to be the primary source of revenue for GB News, which rebroadcasts audio from its television output on its own GB News Radio service.

However, the broadcaster has suffered widespread advertising boycotts by brands that don’t want to be associated with some of its productions.

“It’s a brand safety disaster zone,” says Richard Wilson, co-founder of the Stop Funding Hate campaign, which is calling out social media advertisers who run ads in outlets such as GB News and the Daily Mail. . “I’m not surprised advertisers are staying away.”

However, Frangopoulos says the company is starting to have inroads with media and brand buying agencies, some of which are now reaching out directly. GB News uses the sales arm of Sky TV to sell its on-air advertising space, owner of Kiss and Jazz FM, Bauer, handles its radio advertising and the commercial arm of the Daily Mail is responsible for digital advertising.

“We had challenges at launch with advertisers, but there was a shift in the market,” says Frangopoulos. “Toward the end of last year and into this year, there has been a significant shift in the level of discussion that we are having at the dealership level and at the customer level.

“It was partly motivated because we are now part of the UK broadcast landscape. We have a large audience that attracts some advertisers and is worth talking about.”

According to the Guardian’s research, GB News attracted nearly 170 advertisers or campaigns in the first half of last year, and more than 180 in the second half, including brands such as Camelot, Burger King, Jet2, TalkTalk and Weetabix.

While none of these were big spenders – Sky’s own ads were among the biggest – they do suggest that the advertiser boycott of GB News is easing.

GB News reached 2.87 million viewers in December, comfortably ahead of TalkTV. Photo: Finbarr Webster/Getty

In December, the TV channel reached 2.87 million viewers, comfortably ahead of TalkTV’s 2 million viewers, despite having an average daily viewership of just 41 seconds. Sky News had a monthly reach of 8.5m and BBC News, the market leader, had 11.4m.

GB News Radio is also increasing its audience, as its weekly audience increased to 415,000 from the second quarter to the third quarter of last year.

The world of traditional media is a notoriously difficult business to turn a profit, which begs the question whether GB News can grow to the point where it is self-sufficient and no longer needs to turn to its backers for more cash injections.

The potential merger that is sometimes mooted with or takeover by TalkTV will not solve the problem – Sky News has not turned a profit in more than three decades on the air.

In January 2021, GB News revealed that it had secured £60 million to launch into the UK market in what was described at the time as a three-year financing.

However, last August there was a shake-up among its backers, as founding investor Discovery, existing shareholders Sir Paul Marshall, the EU hedge fund magnate, and Legatum, the Dubai-based investment firm founded by New Zealand billionaire Christopher Chandler, sold off. He takes over.

Financial accounts of Discovery’s UK business later revealed that it sold its 25% stake for £8m, which was a 60% drop from the original £20m it paid, suggesting that GB News’ value had fallen from £80m at launch to £32m.

The latest £60m funding round, in which founders Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider stepped down as directors and sold their stakes, could prop up GB News for a number of years if it chooses to cut costs significantly.

Frangopoulos declines to comment on “shareholder or valuation matters” but does point out that GB News is not at this stage looking to scale back small operations.

“GB News competes with big-name, well-funded media outlets and it works,” says Frangopoulos. “We are the employer of more than 200 journalists and that is a net positive for British journalism. All companies have a balanced investment to drive commercial growth and headhunting.”

[ad_2]