Former GB News producer Liam Deacon, who is now consultant at London public affairs firm Pagefield, said: “Trump taking GB News seriously has been useful in that it’s made them feel like a prestigious brand. But they also thrive as an underdog, so it’s not critical.”
Stirring the pot
Criticism of the BBC is nothing new, but the broadcaster has been under pressure in recent months over more than just its Trump edit, with its coverage of the war in Gaza coming under particular criticism. That’s allowed GB News to position itself as a fresh alternative, even though television viewers in the UK have other options, including Sky News, and radio stations such as LBC.
“It’s hard to appreciate what a phenomenon GB News is if your life is mostly London-based,” said Frayne. “It’s becoming the channel of choice for working-class England. It’s not just in people’s homes, you see it on in the background in countless pubs and small businesses in every town you go to.”
He added: “The BBC has become non-existent in many of these places.”
Others are watching the outlet with skepticism and alarm. Tom Chivers of the Media Reform Coalition, a non-partisan research group which campaigns for public interest media, acknowledged that outlets like GB News “matter a lot to politicians” — but pointed out that it still has a relatively small audience share.
“I think what we come back to is why these kinds of outlets are established in the first place,” he argued. “It’s not about providing alternative sources of news, or about catering to audiences that feel underserved. It’s actually about powerful political elites — whether that’s Nigel Farage or [senior Conservative] Jacob Rees-Mogg or all these other people connected with GB News — who already have quite significant power across politics and media, ensuring that their place at the table, their voice on your screens and on your radio and so on, is permanent, is entrenched.”