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In the realm of British televised news familiar behemoths, such as the BBC and Sky, have dominated the airwaves. However, the recent emergence of more partisan media (GB News and to a lesser extent, Talk TV) has stirred controversy. In reality, this country has been in need of more diverse political coverage for some time.
The print media has for over a century been split down partisan lines itself (The Telegraph and Daily Mail, The Sun and Guardian) without anyone calling for their closure or for an “impartial” BBC newspaper, so it’s already a miracle this hasn’t been the case on television until recently. In fact, the BBC has dismally failed to be “impartial” and provide a platform for both political wings like it claims to strive for. As such, a gaping gap in the market had been left. It’s no wonder GB News has emerged, and seen relative success as brand new channels go, especially online. This is despite regulatory bodies straining every nerve to hobble this success, going against a quintessential cornerstone of a democratic society: journalistic freedoms.
So why is it that so many people, plenty of journalists included, oppose this universally recognised tenet of democracy? Well, from BBC stalwarts the almost snobbish charge is that it stokes political polarisation à la USA. Not only does this ignore that there was demand for such a channel in the first place, but also that the information age is a hostile place for self-declared non-partisan media. People want to consume news which is tailored to them, and they’re going to do this whether or not there’s a channel for this on TV, as so much news is now consumed on social media which you can follow and subscribe to.
On both ends of the political spectrums in the modern world, and some might say to a greater extent on the right, many feel disenfranchised. This has fostered an anti-establishment feeling in this country, and the only greater symbol of this establishment than the monarchy is the BBC, especially as it claims to be a source of universal and undeniable truth. It just isn’t an organisation equipped to appeal to both sides of the political argument in the changed modern world, and now it’s spiteful of channels which can, whether or not they’ve done so ethically or successfully. We should embrace channels like GB News because there will be more of them. And to be clear, embracing them doesn’t even mean you agree with them, it means you agree with democratic values such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Image reference: GB News, 2021// CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
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