Media Talk

I know, I know... but someone had to do it. Dan Wootton's profile was recently taken down from the presenters page, so we might deduce from that he probably isn't coming back. Mark Longhurst has also left.

Can't help thinking it won't be on air too much longer. Either they'll do something so stupid Ofcom has no choice but to step in, or the backers will decide not to put any more money in. I give it another 18 months, max.

His profile got put back up shortly after it was took down, so he may have some time left (I doubt it will be much long though).

Talk will go first. Although I do think the way they've handed things with Wootton, Fox and Reverend Robinson has damaged their credibility as a channel. I think once the post-Jungle Farage bounce has had its time, that'll be when we get a clearer picture of the long term future.

I actually think GBN will go first - TalkTV has not been involved in no where near as much controversy as them. They might be struggling viewer wise but all it takes is for the former to go and they're on the up.

I think the controversy is largely manufactured by and beneficial to GB News. I bet Talk TV would love the type of coverage that GB News is getting. Any coverage of Talk TV tends to be a passing mention in pieces where Piers Morgan is the main subject matter. If Piers Morgan left Talk TV and joined another channel, that new channel immediately becomes "that channel that Piers Morgan is on' in the eyes of the public and Talk TV is forgotten about. Who even remembers Kate McCann fainting now? Not me.

Fair points. Farage is a better broadcaster than Morgan, however, which goes in GBN's favour. But as we saw in the Jungle with Ant & Dec ripping on it, GBN seems to be looked down upon within the industry itself. That in itself tells its own story, IMHO.

Jonny Hotsausage wrote: ↑Tue 26 Dec, 2023 7:53 pm But as we saw in the Jungle with Ant & Dec ripping on it, GBN seems to be looked down upon within the industry itself. That in itself tells its own story, IMHO.

It's only looked down on in the same way as I remember BBC Four was, as BBC Three was, as Channel 5 was, as Sky Television was, as Channel 4 was and, although I am not old enough to remember, probably ITV and BBC Two were too. I suspect television in general was looked down on by radio broadcasts when BBC Television launched too. It's just jokes about television because the people writing the jokes know about television as it's the industry they work in.

The joke is basically that [new service] doesn't have many viewers. For the joke to work, the people hearing it need to have heard of the new service. For GB News to be mentioned in a joke on primetime ITV1 is a confirmation that viewers are aware of it. You don't hear jokes about TRT World because viewers are not going to generally be aware of such an obscure channel.

GB News will be pleased about the jokes being made about them. Each one raises awareness of the channel. I suspect the Ant and Dec jokes were part of Nigel Farage's contract. I.e they had to mention GB News a certain number of times and always when Nigel Farage was captioned.

Now Wootton has been cleared, what now? Will he be reinstated?

There's been a lot of libel and slander made in Wootton's direction, and on the face of it, he has grounds to sue a lot of people. If I were the accountant of Byline Times, I'd be particularly worried - they bet the farm on him getting done bang-to-rights and it's backfired bigtime.

Peter wrote: ↑Sun 24 Dec, 2023 4:00 pm I actually think GBN will go first - TalkTV has not been involved in no where near as much controversy as them. They might be struggling viewer wise but all it takes is for the former to go and they're on the up.

Oh well, that didn't take long to not come true!