GB News chiefs held emergency talks at the weekend as the channel fights for its future following a series of scandals and record viewer complaints.
Regulator Ofcom has opened 12 investigations into the broadcaster, including one examining the sexist on-air comments made last week by actor Laurence Fox.
The remarks about a female political journalist led to the suspension of Fox and presenter Dan Wootton. More than 7,300 viewers complained.
It is understood that investors and managers from GB News were in contact this weekend to discuss how to move on amid the bad publicity.
‘It is crunch time for GB News,’ a former employee told The Observer. ‘They cannot just bask in notoriety forever because they do need to make some money and they need to keep the right to call themselves a channel for news programmes.’
Regulator Ofcom has opened 12 investigations into the broadcaster, including one examining the sexist on-air comments made last week by actor Laurence Fox
Fox made the shocking comments to journalist Ava Evans (pictured) who said she was ‘shocked and hurt’ by the language used
Insiders have claimed the station, backed by hedge-fund tycoon Paul Marshall, is divided, with some believing the suspensions go against the channel’s core principle of free speech, while others view it as a chance to move forward.
Having ploughed in an estimated £10million, Mr Marshall, a co-founder of the hedge fund Marshall Wace, is estimated to own around half of the channel and also funds the political site UnHerd.
Tim Montgomerie, a former editor of UnHerd, said he expected GB News to undergo ‘a major course correction’ in the next few days. Mr Montgomerie said Mr Marshall, a committed Christian, would have been unimpressed with the Fox and Wootton broadcast.
GB News has breached broadcasting rules three times since its launch in 2021 and will be keen to avoid a fourth.
Last week the channel apologised after Fox attacked Ava Evans, a correspondent for the news website JOE, in an on-air rant on Tuesday evening. Fox said ‘Who would want to sh*g that?’ and described her as a ‘little woman’.
He claimed his remarks were in response to comments made by Ms Evans on BBC’s Politics Live, when she was accused of being dismissive about men’s mental health issues.
Ms Evans said Fox’s comments were ‘unforgivable’ and that a responsible broadcaster should never have allowed the rant to go as far as it did. According to sources at GB News, Wootton was suspended for ignoring instructions to stop Fox, which were being relayed by senior management via his earpiece, and for later failing to read an autocue apology on air.
He apologised the next day.
Insiders have claimed the station, backed by hedge-fund tycoon Paul Marshall (pictured), is divided, with some believing the suspensions go against the channel’s core principle of free speech, while others view it as a chance to move forward
Following the broadcast several members of GB News staff wrote to chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos (pictured), a former boss of Sky News Australia, to register their disgust at the comments
Following the broadcast several members of GB News staff wrote to chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos, a former boss of Sky News Australia, to register their disgust at the comments.
Fox had been suspended by 10am the following morning and Wootton followed a few hours later.
On Friday another presenter, evangelical cleric Calvin Robinson, posted his support for Wootton on social media and was also quickly suspended. There are suggestions that the change in direction from the Fox-Wootton debacle may be linked to Mr Marshall’s expected bid for ownership of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, on which he is heading a consortium.
Last month Ofcom ruled GB News had breached impartiality rules when Tory MPs Esther McVey and her husband Philip Davies interviewed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt days before the spring budget.
On Friday Lee Anderson MP, the Tory chairman, who is also a GB News host, interviewed home secretary Suella Braverman for the channel.
In a message to staff on Friday, chairman Alan McCormick said the channel had launched an ‘immediate investigation’ into Fox’s comments because ‘GB News is not a place that tolerates personally denigrating comments or insults’.
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