GB News: a thread so you never have to watch it

[two sheds]

GB News presenter quits after channel tries to make him pay Ofcom fines

Mark Steyn could face sanction by media regulator after he cast doubt on safety of Covid vaccines

www.theguardian.com

One of GB News’s leading presenters has quit after the channel tried to make him personally responsible for paying fines issued by the media regulator Ofcom.

Mark Steyn, who presented the station’s 8pm peak-time slot, is already subject to two investigations by the media regulator after he used his show to cast doubt on the safety of Covid vaccines.


The presenter’s departure has led some viewers of GB News – which has given airtime to conspiracy theorists warning of a globalist elite takeover – to suggest the channel has itself sold out to shadowy globalist forces.

Steyn, who has been off-air since last year after suffering two heart attacks, told fans on his personal website that the station bosses initially insisted he could not return unless a defibrillator was fitted in the studio.

He said this was fixed with a call to “Defibrillators R Us”, only for Angelos Frangopoulos, GB News’s chief executive, to demand Steyn agree to personally cover the costs of dealing with Ofcom and paying any fines for breaches of the broadcasting code. This is a highly unusual situation given the fines are the legal responsibility of the broadcast licence holder, not the individual presenter.

Steyn, who was employed on a freelance basis, said his response was that “you may be a homicidal maniac intent on bringing on a third fatal heart attack but you’ll have to do better than this”.

The presenter said he used to call GB News’s in-house compliance officer “Ofcom’s bitch” when they argued about what he was allowed to say on air.

“Well Ofcom’s bitch has had his revenge now,” said Steyn in his video.

Despite the tough trading conditions, they have still signed up new presenters including Jacob Rees-Mogg and John Cleese.

Cleese ffs

 

[CH1]

Matthew Sweet the Radio 3 presenter comments


later on in his thread Sweet says "GB News without cranks would be like the Windmill Theatre without strippers"

Can GBN survive a clean-up?

 

[PR1Berske]

 

[Lurdan]

Good riddance.

However as one rabbit hole at GB News closes another appears to be getting a little deeper. On Saturday Matthew Sweet pointed out that Neil Oliver had as a guest on his show, a so called "constitutional expert", William Keyte of the "New Chartist Movement". This is a small group, which under different names seems to have existed for some years. It is dedicated to:

Exposing and taking down corrupt judges, lawyers, bankers, academics and politicians who openly defy the truth, common sense and our God-given Common Law.

Icke, 5G, antivax are all to be found on their website, but underlying their ideas are some very old school conspiraloon theories.

In 2018 Keyte gave a presentation to the Barnsley conference held by the short-lived "Democrats and Veteran's Party" founded by radical ex-UKIPers. Here is a short excerpt from that presentation in which he lists the "dark actors behind the scenes".


View attachment keyte.mp4


Cecil Rhodes, Lord Milner and the groups they founded at the start of the 20th century 'on the model established by Weishaupt and the original Bavarian Illuminati'.

Of course there is a particular focus on the machinations of bankers. From an article on the "New Chartist Movement" website:

The BIS [Bank for International Settlements] also oversees over 95% of the world’s money and is where the governors of these central banks receive their confidential instructions from the powerful banking dynasties such as the Morgan, Oppenheim, Lehman, Warburg, Rothschild and Rockefeller families.

I think we can see where this is going.

This strain of idiocy was briefly 'fashionable', if that's the right word, in the early days of the internet back in the 1990s. Sweet also suggests a link between Neil Oliver's references to the 'silent war' 'being waged by Parliament against the people' and another 1990s conspiraloon text 'Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars'. That purported to be a secret report

discovered in a surplus copier purchased from Boeing Aircraft in 1986. Reveals details of a plan, hatched in the embryonic days of the Cold War, which called for the control of the masses through manipulation of industry, peoples' pastimes, education and political leanings. It called for a quiet revolution, pitting brother against brother, and diverting the public's attention from what is really going on."

Essentially a modern version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, it circulated a lot in the early days of the internet. (I first saw excerpts from it in William Cooper's 'Behold A Pale Horse' another conspiraloon 'classic').

Here is the presentation by Oliver about the 'silent war' that Sweet is referring to

View attachment Oliver.mp4

I don't think it's clear Oliver is actually citing 'Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars' but the resemblance to that kind of conspiraloon theory is indeed striking.

Sweet's twitter thread about this is here and currently archived at threadreaderapp here.

 

[belboid]

GB News is some weird specie of Unherd meets truth-telling anti-vaxxers.

I don’t think it was true when you wrote this, but GBNews is now owned by the twat that owns Unherd.

 

[cupid_stunt]

The delusional Laurence Fox's has had an auto-rant about Steyn leaving GBN, he's totally lost down a rabbit hole.



Full thread

Thoughts on @GBNEWS

1 - Just opened Twitter after my trip to see the anger levelled at @GBNEWS following the fall out of the @MarkSteynOnline affair. I have been following Mark for years and I believe him to be one of the finest, driest and wittiest journalists on air.

2 - I think his contribution to the channel is immense and his talent incomparable. I am also surprised by the level of anger directed at the channel itself, rather than the state censorship vehicle to which he seems to have fallen foul of, @Ofcom

3 - GB news is working within a state regulated market, because that is how the China style suppression of free speech works in this country if you wish to broadcast live television. Only an act of parliament can change that. Legislation much needed in my view.

4 - Whether you think @GBNEWS made a mistake in wanting to make sure their content reached every television in the country, rather than being an online entity, is a different question, but that is the decision they made, and those gates are guarded by @Ofcom

5 - It is my personal view that this situation reveals how corrupt the media regulators are, and the fact that @GBNEWS have managed to challenge the propagandist narrative churned out by pretty much every other myopic MSM outlet, is to their credit and our benefit.

6 - We live in very dark times. We have witnessed the mono-narrative of state funded media pumping our heads full of lie after lie over the ‘pandemic’ lockdowns, masking, the destruction of our children’s education, experimental medical interventions…

7 -…The cost of living crisis, immigration, the ‘climate crisis.’ Project fear rolls on relentlessly. All paid for by us in taxes we give to the regime, who pass them on in return to the legacy media in bundles.

8 - @GBNEWS has been pretty much the ONLY counter to the propaganda we are bombarded with day after day, and I am sure will continue to be so despite the huge loss of @MarkSteynOnline. It’s also the only place you can get anything approximating free expression on television.

9 - it is my personal view that @Ofcom is the problem. And in the interests of free expression and having that crucial debate, when I am back in the chair this week, I will be asking the head of @Ofcom to come and explain to the viewers what @GBNEWS is and isn’t compelled to say.

10 - @Ofcom are not the only ones who censor public discourse. @YouTube removed last week an interview I did with @JamesEsses on the trans debate, and until recently if you made the egregious error of stating biological fact, @Twitter would suspend your account.

11 - The online safety bill is snaking it’s way through parliament and we are facing a crisis of free speech across the west. @GBNEWS is David fighting the Goliath of the state and big tech. It needs to be the home of free speech, not compelled speech in these censorious times.

12 - All of these unaccountable institutions, agencies and regulators of the state have been captured. If we want to see change, then it’s those we should go after, ahead of a young channel trying its best to provide some balance to an extremely one sided debate.

13 - @MarkSteynOnline is a hero. The end.

@MarkSteynOnline is a hero. The end.

 

[Lurdan]

Matthew Sweet's latest twitter thread about Neil Oliver after the Guardian has picked the story up :

Twitter link

The thread is also here (at the moment) at threadreaderapp.

It includes this

Watching Oliver's 'journey' is rather like watching David Icke in the mid 1990s when, still a member of the Green Party, he discovered the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Icke's early attempts to separate the TRUTH 'exposed' by the Protocols from it's antisemitism are interesting when you read the current defences of Oliver online.

I can understand, too, why many Jewish people get so angry about them when you think how Adolf Hilter used the Protocols and their reference to Zion to justify his unspeakable treatment of Jews in the concentration camps. How ironic to think, therefore, that, as we shall see, Hitler was brought to power by the very Brotherhood elite whose game plan for the world is so brilliantly set out in those Protocols.
Let us get one thing very clear. The conspiracy I am exposing is not, repeat not, a conspiracy by the Jewish people and few have suffered as much as the Jews in Germany and elsewhere from Brotherhood-engineered events.

But if we are going to pick the truth from the falsehood, the wheat from the chaff, we must be adult enough, surely, to see the difference between the content of the Protocols and the people given the blame for them. If we don’t we will throw the baby out with the bath water which is exactly what the manipulators want us to do. We also need to appreciate the difference between the Jewish people as a race and Zionism which is a political movement. You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist and many people who call themselves Zionists are not Jewish. It is possible that the reference to Zion in the Protocols is calculated disinformation designed to blame it all, quite wrongly, on Jewish people and in that sense they may well be forgeries. But from the perspective of the 1990s it is painfully obvious that whoever wrote the protocols was either a prophet of extraordinary powers, or, rather more likely, they knew the Brotherhood game plan for the 20th Century.

The Robot's Rebellion (1994)

Replying to Matthew Sweet today:

Of course by his next book, after having been kicked out of the Greens and dropped by his publisher, Icke had discovered Holocaust denial as well, and today there is no question of his antisemitism.

It doesn't follow that Oliver is inevitably going to publicly embrace antisemitism, nor that he does so privately. But part of his audience already has and whether likes it or not he is acting as a 'gateway drug' for others. Matthew Sweet is right to say

If you believe the world has been secretly controlled for centuries by bankers and shadowy figures then you invevitably start paraphrasing the Protocols.

But I also think it's necessary to be clear that what's wrong with the Protocols is not just their antisemitism, but their conspiratorial vision of a world in which the mass of 'sheeple' are being manipulated by 'hidden forces' and 'hidden masters of the world', and their consequent appeal to 'illuminated' 'red pilled' 'special ones' who believe they can see the TRUTH of that analysis and identify those 'hidden forces' and 'hidden masters'. That framework can be, and has been, filled with any content.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Matthew Sweet's latest twitter thread about Neil Oliver after the Guardian has picked the story up :
Twitter link
The thread is also here (at the moment) at threadreaderapp

The last part of that thread makes me laugh.

[But just look at the replies to @GBNEWS tweets. The audience is going crazy with anger. They think the channel has sold out, been bought by the WEF, or somesuch. Just pick one at random and look. They are bringing their torches and pitchforks to @GBNEWS itself.

And this represents, I think, an existential crisis for the channel. It has cultivated an audience of extremists, fantasists and wingnuts. And now they’ve turned against them. Where can it go from here?

And, here's the link to the Guardian article -

Jewish group and MPs urge GB News to stop indulging conspiracy theories

Fears that antisemitic tropes are being spread after host Neil Oliver discusses plan to impose ‘one-world government’

www.theguardian.com

Having both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and some MPs on the case will put pressure on OFCOM to pull their socks up.

 

[danny la rouge]

The last part of that thread makes me laugh.



And, here's the link to the Guardian article -

Jewish group and MPs urge GB News to stop indulging conspiracy theories

Fears that antisemitic tropes are being spread after host Neil Oliver discusses plan to impose ‘one-world government’

www.theguardian.com

Having both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and some MPs on the case will put pressure on OFCOM to pull their socks up.

I don’t want to “subscribe to keep reading”. Is it possible to quote some funny bits?

 

[8ball]

I don’t want to “subscribe to keep reading”. Is it possible to quote some funny bits?

I'm not getting that, but with the Graun there is usually an "I'll register later" button or similar that allows you to proceed.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I don’t want to “subscribe to keep reading”. Is it possible to quote some funny bits?

That's not right, you don't need to subscribe to read the Guardian.

Try this link - Jewish group and MPs urge GB News to stop indulging conspiracy theori…

 

[danny la rouge]

That's not right, you don't need to subscribe to read the Guardian.

Try this link - Jewish group and MPs urge GB News to stop indulging conspiracy theori…

Not so funny, then.

 

[rubbershoes]

Good riddance.

William Keyte of the "New Chartist Movement". This is a small group, which under different names seems to have existed for some years.

Exposing and taking down corrupt judges, lawyers, bankers, academics and politicians who openly defy the truth, common sense and our God-given Common Law

God-given common law, eh? Common law is specifically law made by judges, rather than parliament. Complaining about judges defying common law is a legal nonsense

 

[DaveCinzano]

God-given common law, eh? Common law is specifically law made by judges, rather than parliament. Complaining about judges defying common law is a legal nonsense

Tsk, you can argue anything with facts

 

[Cloo]

It's interesting that GB News has about 36 viewers, but presumably its 'reach' is all via social media, so extra fact-free points there. Anyway seen plenty of responses along the lines of 'That their trying to suppress noledge of this conspiracy proovs it!'

 

[pbsmooth]

unfortunately they're creeping on to youtube 'news' section with sky news, BBC etc and seem to be getting views. so yes they are capturing the lunatic market but will no doubt also get some casual viewers for general news who are none the wiser plus some brexit types who like the name.

 

[Dom Traynor]

unfortunately they're creeping on to youtube 'news' section with sky news, BBC etc and seem to be getting views. so yes they are capturing the lunatic market but will no doubt also get some casual viewers for general news who are none the wiser plus some brexit types who like the name.

The only news media I follow on YouTube are the NZ broadcasters + Novara and yet it keeps pushing GBNews clips to me... I think because I also follow tech, comedy, and history channels so it's got me marked as a type. I also get Joe Rogan recommendations.

 

[CH1]

Free speech at GB News​

The Media Show
As a star presenter departs, the CEO reveals his strategy for the news channel.

BBC Radio 4 - The Media Show, Free speech at GB News

As a star presenter departs, the CEO reveals his strategy for the news channel.

www.bbc.co.uk

I heard a bit of this on the radio, but the "BBC Sounds" is saying "this episode in unavailable"
I think it will be soon - the BBC have time and dimensional problems on the audio streaming service.
It was an interview with Fragalopolos - who (being Australian) was also sticking up for Mr Murdoch's alternative truth telling.
Maybe they might merge? GB News 1 and 2?

 

[pbsmooth]

The only news media I follow on YouTube are the NZ broadcasters + Novara and yet it keeps pushing GBNews clips to me... I think because I also follow tech, comedy, and history channels so it's got me marked as a type. I also get Joe Rogan recommendations.

Yeah I see it and rarely watch any news on YouTube and certainly nothing related to GB News

 

[agricola]

Having both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and some MPs on the case will put pressure on OFCOM to pull their socks up.

I doubt it - there was a lot of Captain Renaulting in the Board's statement. The problem apparently being one show where conspiracy theories are aired, supported by some guests whose organizations promote anti-Semitic conspiracy theories; as if the rest of it wasn't deliberately set up and staffed with people who have repeatedly attacked globalists and spread conspiracy theories about all manner of things. Then you have Tory MPs coming out with statements like "media diversity is good, but...."

The channel is rotten by design.

 

[Lurdan]

Matthew Sweet has started another twitter thread:

There follow other examples of idiots making similar arguments.

(I'd post a link to the thread using Threadreaderapp but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Unclear whether this is due to the Twitter glitches many people are experiencing this evening or a result of the changes announced to Twitter API access that were due to start on Thursday).

ETA: Someone else has succeeded in adding the thread to threadreaderapp - the page is here.

 

[steveo87]

 

[steveseagull]

Who thought interviewing a paedo about 'woke' was a good idea?

 

[steveo87]

Who thought interviewing a paedo about 'woke' was a good idea?

Its a spoof account

 

[rutabowa]

unfortunately they're creeping on to youtube 'news' section with sky news, BBC etc and seem to be getting views. so yes they are capturing the lunatic market but will no doubt also get some casual viewers for general news who are none the wiser plus some brexit types who like the name.

their stuff gets shared a lot by people taking the piss out of it, which I guess makes the algorithm push it more. i guess having e.g. this thread might not have been the greatest idea in hindsight.

 

[pbsmooth]

completely agree the futility of sharing stuff you hate on twitter but not sure that many actual GB News links have been shared here? mainly screenshots etc. but can't say I have been following it that closely.

 

[krtek a houby]

their stuff gets shared a lot by people taking the piss out of it, which I guess makes the algorithm push it more. i guess having e.g. this thread might not have been the greatest idea in hindsight.

It's like a reverse Ark from the Indiana Jones film... all the ghouls escaping... can't look... away...

 

[rutabowa]

completely agree the futility of sharing stuff you hate on twitter but not sure that many actual GB News links have been shared here? mainly screenshots etc. but can't say I have been following it that closely.

I mean I've shared one at least.

but anyway screenshots might not be directly affecting the algorithm but they're still putting it out there which will lead to a few clicks more than if they hadn't been posted

 

[pbsmooth]

have a word with yourself

 

[tim]

Lawrence Fox putting the boot into GBNews on GBNews, there's lots of stuff about OffCom and other secretive cabals and repetition if the phrase "Jew Impartiality" and how OffCom and Jew Impartiality gave brought down the great Mark Styne.