A year inside GB News: "We’re going to disrupt"

Audio Long Reads, from the New Statesman

For today’s Audio Long Read we’re bringing you one from our archives, which is suddenly extremely prescient. This week GB News is in the spotlight once again, this time for broadcasting misogynist comments made by Laurence Fox about a female journalist, Ava Evans. The channel has suspended Fox, along with host Dan Wootton, and has apologised for broadcasting the comments. But this is the latest in a long line of incidents in which GB News has pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in broadcast journalism. In 2022 we published Stuart McGurk’s investigation into the origins of the right-wing news channel, speaking to insiders working in the founding team including senior journalists, editorial and production staff, and the chief executive himself. Stuart’s article, which is both alarming and hilarious, sheds light on the tumultuous origins of GB News and provides context for its current battle to be taken seriously.

This article was originally published online on the New Statesman in April 2022; you can read the text version here.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might also like Cancel culture comes to GB News, by Clive Martin.

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