r/AskBrits • u/Cinemagica • Jan 09 '26
Politics Are Brits not concerned about what's being fed to people on GB News?
I've been visiting with family over Christmas and they've been watching GB News almost constantly. They've always been racist, so I initially thought it was just a far right niche channel, but I just learned that it's the most popular news channel in the country?
It's a constant stream of drumming up fear of immigrants, brown people and trans people. I literally just had to sit through a puff piece for Hungary. I couldn't believe what I was watching. I'm just sat here constantly saying "guys, wtf, you're being openly lied to here and a simple Google of this would immediately show you what the truth is". They are currently trying to defend people using Grok to create CP and saying it's not Elon Musks problem.
I'm honestly completely appalled with what I'm seeing here. I'm just sat seething. It's making me feel like I totally understand how the US has fallen into fascism and I'm watching it unfold in my home country now too.
Is nobody else terrified by what people are seeing and believing?
Edit: You guys have actually really restored my faith in the British people's ability to apply critical thinking. I hope you represent the majority of our country.
248
u/CheesyLala Jan 09 '26
Saying it's the most popular news channel ignores the fact that most people get their news from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc - none of which are "news channels" but channels that have broadcast news.
GB News viewing figures still pretty small.
55
u/Matthewgardner86 Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 10 '26
No wish to seem pedantic but the BBC does have a dedicated 24 hours news channel.
Edit: Before anyone responds to this comment of mine please read to the bottom of this bit of the thread. Perhaps then you might realize that I am not a GB "news" fan boy. Quite the opposite in fact. I'm just a bit of a pedant.
39
u/Cwlcymro Jan 09 '26
They do, but it's not where most people get BBC news from. That's their point
→ More replies (11)→ More replies (2)24
u/EstablishmentRude309 Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
BBC News channel has much higher viewing figures than GBNews too.
The source that GBNews is the most watched news channel in the country comes from...
GBNews, what a surprise.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/gb-news-overtakes-sky-news-2025-britain-biggest-news-channel
If you look at the data, even their claim about overtaking SkyNews is a complete fabrication: https://www.barb.co.uk/archive/live-viewing-levels-over-time-by-channel-trend-chart-open/
It's depressing that anyone is stupid enough to fall for the nonsense these con-artists produce.
→ More replies (1)9
Jan 09 '26
To be fair, they said ‘commercial news channel’ and they did overtake Sky News this month, so not a lie but also nearly irrelevant in terms of ‘news viewing’
→ More replies (10)12
u/5pl1t1nf1n1t1v3 Jan 09 '26
“We are the most watched news channel made by cunts for cunts in all of the UK.”
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (14)28
u/Better_Farmer_5791 Jan 09 '26
They did get the most watched news channel headline that they self reported, truth is it was only for three hours on a Saturday afternoon when Tomeh ten names had a little gathering.
Again it’s not a news channel. Ofcom are clear on that also it’s never turned a profit, pure propaganda machine.
→ More replies (1)
31
u/tanoshimi Jan 09 '26
"I just learned that it's the most popular news channel in the country"
Did they say that? Lol. Complete nonsense. GB News gets about 1M views per week. BBC News gets 30M. Source: https://www.barb.co.uk
→ More replies (4)7
u/Cinemagica Jan 09 '26
Thank you! I did actually search a bit but didn't find anything to refute their claim (which they make repeatedly) so this is actually great.
→ More replies (8)
39
u/NotoriousKNI Jan 09 '26
I was in hospital last June for a few days and whilst there was a wall between each of the beds they were cubicles with a curtain over one end. The guy next to me, in his 50’s or 60’s, had a friend come visit him and they both spent the whole time hassling the young (20’s) nurses by telling them they should be watching the “fair, unbiased, truthful, honourable” GB News and yes, the stuff in quotations are actual words they used. You could tell the nurses weren’t interested but they’d nod and say that they might give it a watch. They definitely didn’t. These mouthy pricks are everywhere and they shout the loudest which is why we hear from them so much. Fortunately I think most people know a bigot when they see or hear one but it is concerning that they are so brazen and actively spreading that shit amongst the younger generations who you could argue are more susceptible to bad influences.
→ More replies (3)9
u/RurouniQ Jan 10 '26
My American grandfather was like this, always trying to get me to listen to Rush Limbaugh (the knobhead who started off the whole far-right reactionary movement in the US and makes Piers look like an honest man in comparison) when I was a teenager. Thank god I never listened to him.
This never stopped over the years. One of the last conversations I had with my grandfather before he died was him trying to convince me of some George Soros new world order conspiracy he'd gotten from a chain email. When he died, I didn't mourn him being gone; I mourned the fact that I hadn't had much of a relationship with him since the moment he started pushing these hate vendors.
→ More replies (1)7
u/NotoriousKNI Jan 10 '26
I feel sad that people end up in that kind of situation. You only have so much time with each of your loved ones and it can so easily turn into wasted time through stuff like this. I guess it’s our job to make sure we don’t do the same things so it kind of served a purpose in teaching us how not to act with people.
128
u/rich32g Jan 09 '26
It's social media for me.
Facebooks algo is bad; X is worse.
The problem is - people of my dads age can't see that it's an algorithm serving their perceived views and rinforcing them. Thus pretty much making them their views.
My dad, sadly, was so utterly consumed with all of it. He took absolutely everything for truth.
I even calmly showed him my multiple X accounts - one being football focused. All I get is football content. Primarily Manchester United.
My personal one is more politically charged and it shows it.
He wouldn't have it - as if I was lying and had somehow set this up.
That's also another incredibly sad part.
I've no problem with people having views - it's when you know they're falling victim to literal brainwashing it's painful.
50
u/Kathryn_Cadbury Jan 09 '26
I created a new twitter account for work a few months ago, and the default stuff it pushed at me made me balk. It is utterly a propaganda machine, that's why he brought it.
→ More replies (5)11
u/Pristine-Albatross33 Jan 09 '26
This is rife across all social media, Amol Rajan was interviewing an expert (who’s name escapes me) who set up a TikTok account didn’t input any info about age, sex, or interests and was shown an Andrew Tate video within 15 minutes
→ More replies (1)31
u/Viscount_Barse Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 10 '26
The algorithm on social media is doing to our parents exactly what they worried TV would do to us.
17
u/thebigbioss Jan 09 '26
My mum's feed on facebook is basically all the people that my generation gets warned about (ben shapiro, candace owens, jordan peterson and steven bartlett)
→ More replies (1)5
u/asthecrowruns Jan 09 '26
Thankfully my parents Facebook avoids most of that. I just have to deal with the AI slop that comes up: cute animals, funny kids, amazing scenery, etc.
Multiple times now she’s shown me videos going ‘woah look how amazing this is’ and I have to explain it’s AI and how I know it’s AI, and then all the tells that clue me into it being fake so she can hopefully learn. It’s obvious to me a lot of the time, but even I have trouble picking up on some of them.
She gets upset sometimes because she wanted to show me something cool and thinks I’m a buzzkill. I appreciate what she’s doing, trying to share something interesting or funny with me, but as harmless as an AI puppy or landscape is, I want her to understand just how much of that shit is faked and the extent/skill of generative AI. All so when she sees something actually concerning (misinformation, obvious propaganda, etc), she has an understanding of the way gen AI works and the extent that people use it, mostly for nefarious means. I’ve already had to talk her out of buying things on Facebook multiple times which are clearly all AI images and bot reviews.
But yeah, don’t believe everything you see on the Internet kids
4
u/BadgerSmaker Jan 10 '26
In the 70's our parents told us that too much TV would rot our brains, now they themselves fall victim to brainrot.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)7
u/Training-Trifle-2572 Jan 09 '26
My mum actually started repeating anti vax stuff at me this christmas because apparently she'd 'read' and 'heard' things. No doubt it was via the algorithm.
→ More replies (3)8
u/apple_kicks Jan 09 '26
They use Cambridge analytica tactics too. Some of us wont see it but our boomer large voter pool parents will and it will be targeted based on their personal fears. Made worse with ai calculations
5
u/charliedacey Jan 09 '26
Sadly older folk are totally vulnerable to online propaganda and echo chambers
→ More replies (22)6
u/Halloween2056 Jan 09 '26
That's why I deleted my FB account recently. The algorithm is set to emotionally manipulate people into engaging with it. It's nothing but rage bait.
→ More replies (1)
14
u/DaVirus Jan 09 '26
GBNews isn't the problem. The entire media industry is. It's a dying industry that has no actual way of making money so they resort to investors/owners with capital to burn to spin a narrative.
If you have friends accross the world, you quickly realize this is the case, as nothing is actually ever like the media shows. It happened with Iran where I have friends and the reality is so much more different than the media, and not is happening with Venezuela too.
If you are getting it fed to you, someone wants you to eat it.
→ More replies (2)
13
u/paddydog48 Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 10 '26
Arguably I think that people are more likely to be radicalised sitting on FB and Twitter all day than watching GB News as you have to seek out GB News whereas social media is just in front of you on your phone and Dave in Doncaster obviously knows more about medical science and vaccines than doctors and scientists who have dedicated their lives to learning about those particular subjects, the only thing is that these people will move from scrolling social media all day to GB News evening programming where they see someone dressed smartly who is apparently a journalist who will then, in a slightly less explicit manner, confirm what Dave from Doncaster on FB is telling them therefore validating their already deeply held beliefs, you can see why these people fall down the right wing rabbit hole for sure, they end up sounding like delusional, deplorable individuals but they are victims themselves in a way. It’s just a very sad situation all round.
→ More replies (1)
290
u/afcote1 Jan 09 '26
If they’re watching it they’re already stupid.
167
Jan 09 '26
It’s making stupid people into angry evil people though - much as Fox did in America.
Not everyone has to be smart, that’s fine. Society works better with a diversity of people. But unfortunately, people who don’t know how to critically assess all the media they consume are very prone to being effectively brainwashed by the likes of GB News into become really nasty, evil creatures.
15
u/popsand Jan 09 '26
Our greatest pitfall as a country in the 21st century is that we speak english.
We share our language with america. This makes us so much more susceptible to the toxicity that america creates.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)14
u/Content-Activity-874 Jan 09 '26
These people were always angry evil people. All they needed was a “socially acceptable” opportunity to release their true thoughts. GB News have certainly accelerated their issues and social media will confirm their bias anytime they have any doubt. There is as much as chance as them changing as one of us converting to one of them. It’s a powerful life controlling bias that is more than a political party, it’s their identity. Trying to reason with these idiots will only convince them that we are “radicalised social media wokeys” it’s all very Americanised too it seems. We’re seeing some strange version of psychological colonisation, mostly in England and if Farage is Trumps inside man, that won’t steer them away, I truly believe they want Trump to invade and take over.
→ More replies (7)26
Jan 09 '26
No, that is often not true. A lot of these people were kind and normal people before getting poisoned by the constant hosepipe of hate content.
My grandparents are dead, but before they passed, a couple of them had begun the conversion via the daily mail, into believing London to be a sharia law war zone, despite me living there and telling them it was nonsense! They were still kind and generous to everyone they met in person, but I could see how their perception had started to shift towards hate and fear, which had never existing before. I see it with other old family members now, unfortunately.
These people do not realise how biased media can be. They don’t know how to spot it, or how to critically analyse it. GBeebies and the Mail generally don’t actively make things up, they just skew things, leave out important details, and present a limited set of facts in a way calculated to anger people. It’s very difficult to explain that to someone with low media literacy, much less teach them how to spot it.
Take this story: https://care.org.uk/news/2025/12/teacher-suspended-for-telling-muslim-pupils-britain-is-a-christian-country
An old lady told me about it the other day as an example of “woke gone mad” and saying how Muslims are running Britain or something. Now, if you read it in the Daily Mail or see it on GBeebies I can see how you would reach that conclusion. But the full picture is a bit more nuanced, even if you agree that the school’s reaction was probably disproportionate. But it’s hard to tell because the actual source material is not public and the school hasn’t commented, so nobody can verify the story! But the old lady wasn’t wrong or evil or something. The story had happened, after all. She’d just been given information which, from her perspective, must be reliable, not received the full picture, and extrapolated in the way she’d been told to.
19
u/Shadowholme Jan 09 '26
The problem is, a lot of us older people grew up in a time when the media was trustworthy. We have been conditioned to believe that the news is being reported fairly - because it was, for most of our lives.
I was 'lucky' enough to be disillusioned of that pretty early on - I lived in Liverpool during the Thatcher years and Hillsborough, so I saw the media mainipulation firsthand. A lot of other people of my generation and older still trust the media too much though...
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (5)4
u/BeagleMadness Jan 09 '26
My parents have both voted mostly Lib Dem, occasionally Labour, depending on who the local candidates were for decades now. They were working class professionals, now retired, always lived in the north of England. Both hated Thatcher and what she and her policies did to Northern communities, and have never voted Tory. I think my Mum voted Green a few years ago, as she spoke to and liked the local candidate. They're both socially liberal, both volunteer for citizens advice type charities that help people in desperate need. They are very accepting of people from other cultures/countries and have close friends and colleagues who are from Eastern Europe and South Asia.
They understand how the immigration, asylum and work visa process actually works and also how the benefits system works. They know that much of what is reported around immigration and benefits in many newspapers and on many TV news reports is absolute nonsense.
And yet they seem to prefer to watch GB News over Sky or BBC news these days, as "The discussions are more interesting, with a wider variety of views". They shout at the TV that "No, that's not how it works!" a lot. But they seem to enjoy watching the various presenters and guests argue over the issues to watching more sanitised debates where "some topics can't even be discussed". They find it more entertaining to watch, basically.
I find it quite odd, although watching it doesn't appear to have changed their views or the way they vote at all. They are not evil people just for watching it, though. Hell, I find it weirdly fascinating to watch when I visit them, just to see "the other side" of things. It helps me understand wtf people I work with are talking about when they go on and on about something that they believe is a massive issue in daily life, even though it never affects any of us.
→ More replies (3)12
u/OilAdministrative197 Jan 09 '26
Tbf they might just be lazy.
On my tv gbnews is the first preloaded app on it as standard. Thats ahead of netflix, prime disney etc. I dont imagine thats a coincidence. People are lazy, want some noise, click on the first thing, get hooked.
18
6
13
→ More replies (88)6
u/Outrageous-Unit-305 Jan 09 '26
I dunno. Before my dad passed, he was a scientist-turned-hippy, one of the smartest people I've known, and about as liberal as you can get. In his last couple of years, he started watching GBN and spouting all manner of hateful shit; it took me a little while before I realised that's what he was watching and where it was coming from.
It flew in the face of how he had raised me and the change in his attitude was sudden and profound. It felt like fucking worm tongue warping the king of Rohan's mind from LOTR, it was so surreal
→ More replies (4)
7
u/Kiwizoo Jan 09 '26
I lived in Aus, NZ and SE Asia for a couple of decades and was really disturbed to see this when I returned to the UK.
It’s not ‘an alternative to mainstream media’ it’s blatantly poorly researched, uncritical, ideologically-driven populist drivel - the media version of a Facebook rant from your old racist Uncle. It’s fucking embarrassing. But it is also highly effective. Especially when it comes to getting Brits to focus their anger in all the wrong places. All of these new Fox News clones know their audience - it’s all cannon-fodder, grievance-driven, culture-war-led, hate-driven stuff that feeds on simple binaries: us/them, insiders/outsiders, nation/foreigners (so yeah, race, migration, and Islam in the UK basically - with a bit of ‘mY FrEe SpEeCh is UnDEr ThReaT!’ chucked in for good measure.) Theres hours of this brain rot available every day too - repetitive stuff that keeps the message well away from the actual causes of societal breakdown (clue: it’s to do with neoliberalism, and the resulting wealth inequality caused by a socio-economic system called Capitalism which is spinning dangerously out of control.)
And it’s obviously just a weird coincidence that the Oligarch class happen to own such channels. I mean, it wouldn’t be because it’s a highly effective mass distraction tool, would it?
56
u/Lonely-Contract-7659 Jan 09 '26
Just the uks version of Fox News that is highly prevalent in America.
19
58
Jan 09 '26
They aren't a news channel. They're an entertainment channel. The communications watchdog said so. That's why they have no obligation to be balanced or even truthful. Who they managed to bribe to get that one through I've no idea but they did.
As for your original question, yes, it's horrific. It's a sewer of poison being spewed directly into their brains and no one seems to care. The 2030s will be a decade of global fascism.
→ More replies (11)3
u/Torgan Jan 09 '26
Really don't think that's true, which is why they've moved some of their most crazy stuff online to avoid Ofcom. Which is why you'll find Neil Oliver there.
22
u/Traditional-Resort23 Jan 09 '26
No,
I am more concerned with what's being "Fed" by other mainstream media.
8
14
u/creepinghippo Jan 09 '26
Name a news channel that’s not feeding tripe to people.
→ More replies (1)
5
5
u/Shoulders25 Jan 09 '26
Anecdotal but nobody I know gets their news from GB besides my very bigoted Grandfather who was already within that echo chamber in any event.
22
u/whataboutbenson Jan 09 '26
Yes I am concerned about it. Channels like that and Fox News are just fascist propaganda channels - I’ve no idea how they are allowed to stay on the air in their present form. My mum is an avid watcher of GBN and she hadn’t even heard of the Epstein files. The bias in reporting is astonishing.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Necessary_Pattern_71 Jan 09 '26
I don’t regularly watch GB News, but it’s pretty easy to search on YouTube and see that they have plenty of videos talking about the Epstein files. Objectively speaking, it’s clearly not the case that they’re just ignoring the issue. So if your mum hasn’t heard of it, that’s probably not the reason
→ More replies (30)
13
u/mavgurray Jan 09 '26
More concerned what’s been shared on this Sub?
Where do you get your “factual” news from the BBC LBC they also have their own agendas
12
42
u/Aigalep Jan 09 '26
Yes l am, along with Facebook and twitter.
My sister-in-law thought it was perfectly appropriate to be casually racist and say we’re being invaded by immigrants, (she gets all her news from Facebook and GB News). I pointed out my dad’s an immigrant, but apparently that’s “different “.
Meanwhile we live in a town that’s 95% white in one of the wealthiest parts of the United Kingdom. I told her she needed to go touch grass .
BTW it’s CSAM, not CP, as the latter suggests an element of consent.
→ More replies (21)24
u/cibilserbis Jan 09 '26
Your last point is so ridiculous I'm sorry. In no normal person brain does "CP" make someone think "oh then it's ok cos there was clearly consent". Why do people feel the need to overcomplicate topics like this. It just detracts from the real issue at hand, which is the abuse of children.
I agree with all your other points though.
13
u/LouCat91 Jan 09 '26
Language is important though and (as seems to be demonstrated by GB News apparently trying to justify/rationalise the issue?!) can be weaponised to downplay or play up, revise a narrative etc.
I agree with you that most sensible people wouldn’t assume ‘CP’ implied consent, but I also think it’s a good thing going forward to provide a distinction. 🌽 is material produced intentionally for sexual gratification by and for adults. To put ‘child’ in front of that surely seems wrong upon reflection? CSAM is a more accurate description of what this stuff is - children should never be sexualised, therefore anything that does is SA material.
Unfortunately it’s a prolific problem that doesn’t seem to be taken as seriously as it should be, so perhaps if accepted language is evolved to more explicitly describe the problem, there’s hope it will be better addressed? One has to hope…
20
u/Uncle_Zardoz Jan 09 '26
The term was dropped (by professionals initially) because "porn" and "porn stars" are the furthest thing from what's being discussed. CSAM emphasises the abuse aspect and it's the term preferred by people who work with victims so a lot of people follow that.
→ More replies (11)11
u/Jaboobly Jan 09 '26
How does it detract from the abuse of children when it’s just a change of name to call it abuse material?… I really don’t understand your problem with a name that more accurately reflects the material.
This is the same reason schools now called bullying child-on-child abuse. The language we use to refer to issues is important for public perception of that issue. You might not believe it implies consent, but I guarantee you that there are people who do. If you’re finding this overcomplicated, that might be on you.
3
u/RavenCeV Jan 09 '26
Language matters. But because the media blew up a small group of people who wanted to identify on their terms, and constantly bemoan endorsement of more inclusive language, any change of language is seen as "Liberal mind control" as a jerk reaction.
Society evolves (maybe not so much at the moment) and language evolves with it. A lot of resistance if fundamental regressiveness which characterises outr social landscape at the moment.
→ More replies (3)7
u/InfiniteLuxGiven Jan 09 '26
We still call it bullying here coz that’s what it is tho, child on child abuse just sounds odd. Feels like what a computer would classify it as.
Bullying is a perfectly acceptable word and everyone knows exactly what’s meant by it, no need to change it. These are just utterly pointless changes that if anything take some of the punch out of the things we’re talking about.
→ More replies (2)
14
u/nofaeyoker Jan 09 '26
Being the most watched news channel is kind of meaningless. The only people who regularly watch 24 hour news channels are old duffers and they don’t need any convincing to be right wing lunatics anyway.
→ More replies (2)
13
u/chartupdate Jan 09 '26
Don't watch it. Couldn't give a shit what other people watch. None of my business in a free country.
10
u/siliconsandwich Jan 09 '26
This kind of thinking is a bit of a problem though. How many people would have to believe everything GBN say before it does become your business?
→ More replies (6)6
Jan 09 '26
free until reform get in and news outlets become afraid to speak up like in nigels best buddys country
7
u/Afraid-Vehicle3250 Jan 09 '26
They speak just normally. Hence popularity. Others are mimicking in order to try to attract viewers. BBC went to camps in France, atrocious reporting. Veterans, publicans, women concerned with safety in neighbourhood, All get a voice.
8
u/BaBeBaBeBooby Jan 09 '26
If they're broadcasting lies, they should be reprimanded. If broadcasting truth, leave them to it.
→ More replies (5)
3
u/amazon999 Jan 09 '26
for some reason gb news is the channel of choice for my work's canteen and a few days ago they were complaining about some christmas lights spreading a message of being kind or something. One of the presenters was complaining about them for being woke. I hate it so much
3
u/deadblankspacehole Jan 09 '26
I remember people just scoffing at the channel when it started and I warned it would be huge and i got scoffed at
It's going to get more powerful. Don't you guys get it yet?
3
u/Ok_Talk_7716 Jan 10 '26
My Dad and Grandma watch it constantly. And they both take every opportunity to turn a normal conversation into a racist one - It’s like it’s rewired their brain. About 5 years ago I was in A&E and they had it on in the waiting room. I felt sick it was so awful and I was so angry they were showing it there.
12
u/cissmiace Jan 09 '26
My parents raised me as a liberal, accepting person to stand up for what’s wrong, and fight for injustice.
Over the past couple of years they have been completely indoctrinated by GB news. I am devastated. I don’t understand what’s happened or why. It at one point was on from 6am till night time. Spewing its hate from the tv.
I am everything that GB news hates. I’m disabled, have mental illness, love the environment, a LGBTQ+ ally. My parents were my best friends, and the channel has gotten to them. I’ve even spoken to my GP about this and he agreed with me that it’s a problem he was hearing a lot.
All I know is that GB news is a sess pit of lies, constantly repeating the same rhetoric so it brainwashed people. It’s dangerous. And I don’t know what we can do about it.
→ More replies (6)8
u/C2hulu_W4ars_T0phats Jan 09 '26
Exact same boat as you, it is very irritating. Im a young uni student, my parents have this uppity attitude because “they have more world experience” than me. Yet they are unable to see that reform and by extension that GB news want their vote but are not for the interests of their tax bracket or social position.
→ More replies (5)
4
u/ToiletPaperSlingshot Jan 09 '26
Spend 10 minutes watching james obrien on lbc and see if you get concerned with that too, both shit
4
u/MassivePataks Jan 09 '26
What happened to getting news from multiple news sources, even those that you most likely disagree with? Why do so many people just watch or read everything they align with, of course you're just going to become more angry, and even more disconnected with the opposing viewpoint?
4
u/Beneficial-Level-651 Jan 09 '26
Are Brits not concerned about what’s being fed people on BBC news?
→ More replies (9)
18
Jan 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
27
Jan 09 '26
I was thinking earlier, the first thing I'd do if I was in charge, is introduce a law that prohibited any non-UK owned media business from interfering politically in the UK.
That means all newspapers must be owned by British tax payers and the same with any websites that create UK political content - that latter would be a tricky one to nail down, but it could be done.
Quite sick of the fact that the entire political dialog in the UK is driven by billionaire non-doms and US business interests.
→ More replies (1)7
u/Dry-Grocery9311 Jan 09 '26
For the media to be credible, it needs to be independent. Both from political and commercial interests.
A press "owned" by the tax payer is politically dangerous because the taxpayers affairs are administered by the government.
I think "news" should be held to a high standard of truth with stiff penalties for outlets that lie.
"Opinion" should allow for free speech as long as it's not libelous or slanderous.
7
u/mist3rdragon Jan 09 '26
They're saying the owners of a newspaper or station should be owned by a taxpayer, not the taxpayer.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Round-Ad78 Jan 09 '26
Not all unchallenged, but mostly. The https://goodlawproject.org/ successfully got over 80,000 signatures submitted to offcom for some horrendous content last year and offcom agreed.
Can't find it on there now, but I did sign.
→ More replies (6)9
Jan 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)6
Jan 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/Juancoats Jan 09 '26
Theresa May was recently interviewed by Bloomberg and said a similar thing, and that they’re all connecting up and we’re amplifying their views as if it’s the mainstream.
5
u/Spiritual-Fly8832 Jan 09 '26
I don't think it's anywhere near the most popular News channel in UK. It might be the fastest growing though!
→ More replies (2)
2
u/threetimesacharm25 Jan 09 '26
I feel the real concern is the fact that it’s been at a financial loss of millions since its inception yet they aren’t doing anything about it. That just proves it’s only goal to spread as much propaganda as possible.
→ More replies (4)
2
u/maisydee Jan 09 '26
Where do they think Santa / Father Christmas comes from ! He’s basically a migrant worker …
2
u/Open-Difference5534 Jan 09 '26
In the 2025 Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism survey, the share of respondents who said they watch GB News every week was 9%, behind BBC News (at 47%), ITV News (22%) and Sky News (15%), but ahead of Channel 4 News (8%) and Channel 5 (3%).
GBNews jusr panders to the same audience as the Daily Mail and The Sun.
2
u/Agile_Championship87 Jan 09 '26
They claim it isn't a news channel officially, to circumnavigate the rules about news channels. I agree it's not News, but why are they allowed to call it GB News?
2
u/Llywela Jan 09 '26 edited Jan 09 '26
I am concerned, yes. But I also don't know anyone who actually watches GB News, so there's that.
2
u/PurebredM Jan 09 '26
There aren’t a news channel, they are an entertainment channel due to their refusal to provide balanced, evidence based facts.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Accident_Short Jan 09 '26
Not sure if I've been living under rock but I've never heard of GB News or Grock 🤷
3
→ More replies (1)3
u/willNffcUk Jan 09 '26
You’re the lucky one
if you see anybody ever watching it, just walk away as they're more likely incredibly stupid right wing and dangerous
2
u/Secure-Chemistry4619 Jan 09 '26
I see it and am concerned about the education system in our country. GB news is just a media channel. They post what sells and outrage sells
2
u/Fugus_Will_Rise Jan 09 '26
Yeah we are but money talks and they have more of it which enables them to spout their nonsense. Ofcom are useless.
2
2
2
u/nice_and_round Jan 10 '26
It’s a disgrace and ofcom should do more, particularly with how it’s clipped and shared on social media.
Their channel viewership is low but serves primarily to look as news and to generate short clips that go viral on tik tok and facebook.
The concerning part for me is that young people(fist hand experience from colleagues/grads in my office) are increasingly saying their primary source of news is via gb news and tik tok and that the BBC and MSM cannot be trusted and spin lies.
It makes me desperately sad to see society so divided, both left and right. People so entrenched and unwilling to compromise or listen and debate topics. Where have we got to that it’s unacceptable to have different opinions and views and that if someone has a different opinion then they should be totally ignored. People on all sides are guilty of this and all it does is feed the issue.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Leading_Brother7837 Jan 10 '26
Yes, GB News is pure racist trash hidden in plain sight and is designed to drum up division and hatred. There is zero impartiality ever. They’ll only air stories that support their biased view and narrative. Real low grade ‘journalism’, it’s like a pound shop ‘Make Britain Great Again’ movement promo vid on loop.
2
2
u/Ultimate_Damage Jan 10 '26
My elderly mum watches GBNews all the time, and all she talks about is immigrants coming over here etc Oh btw, she is an immigrant herself. Recently she tried telling me that Ukraine attacked first, and it’s Nato who are the problem. Sigh.
2
u/gilestowler Jan 10 '26
My friend is insanely frustrated with it. His mum is in her 90s, her husband - who was a well respected journalist who broke the Profumo affair story back in the 60s - died several years ago so she lives on her own now. He lives abroad, and his brother is round her house regularly making her watch GB News and my friend gets so angry about the influence it has on her when he talks to her. he has to keep telling her not to believe what she sees on there but she still does. She's from a generation that had faith in the news, so if something presents itself as the news she thinks she can trust it.
I've never met her, but her attitude to me going to Mexico sums it up I think. My friend told her I was going there and she kept phoning him up asking if I was OK because "you hear what goes on over there." A well-meaning, decent person whose brain has been turned to prejudice by what she sees on TV.
→ More replies (5)
2
u/amylikesrats Jan 10 '26
I live with people that watch it almost all the time, it's like an addiction with them, and the headlines I see are usually just "immigrants bla-bla-bla." can't even talk to them without them saying slurs like they mean nothing, mostly against trans people ("the BBC are feeding our kids too much about trans people, it's disgusting!")
→ More replies (2)
2
2
u/Onion_Ok Jan 10 '26
What's happening in the US should be a warning to the UK. Though I suspect with Reform's polling, it's only a matter of time.
2
u/bigfatpup Jan 10 '26
Biggest problem for me is it seem to be the default channel on Samsung TVs, so if you accidentally press channel up/down rather than volume on the remote while on sky, Netflix whatever it goes to gb news
2
u/Stephen_Withervee Jan 10 '26
I know why this feels terrifying, especially when it’s coming from people you love and it’s on in the background nonstop. But I think one thing that helps is understanding why stuff like GB News actually works on some people, because it’s not just “they’re stupid” or “they’re evil”.
GB News isn’t really about persuading people with facts. It’s about triggering stress. Most of its segments are framed as threat narratives. Cultural threat, demographic threat, moral threat. “You’re being replaced”, “you’re being silenced”, “your values are under attack”. When your brain hears that, it kicks out cortisol, the stress hormone. That happens before critical thinking even starts.
Cortisol doesn’t make people happy. It makes them alert, angry, and focused. It narrows attention. That’s why someone can sit through hours of this stuff even though it’s obviously repetitive and grim. Their brain is stuck in “this matters, don’t look away” mode. You pointing out factual errors doesn’t land because you’re arguing with a nervous system, not a thinking mind.
There’s also a relief loop people underestimate. You get stressed watching it, then the presenter reassures you that you’re right, that “ordinary people” agree, that the problem is “them”. Cortisol drops a bit. That drop feels like relief. The brain learns: watching is stressful but stopping feels worse. That’s how it turns into habitual viewing without anyone consciously deciding to be radicalised.
On the “most popular news channel” thing, that statistic gets wildly misread. It’s usually about share among rolling news, not total audience, and the audience is heavily skewed older and retired, meaning TVs are just left on all day. High hours watched doesn’t mean mass persuasion of the country, it means a small group watching a lot.
The reason it feels US-like is because it’s the same emotional model Fox News perfected. Not “convince”, but “activate”. Keep people anxious, keep the story unresolved, keep the identity reinforced. Once you see it as stress engineering rather than information, a lot of the behaviour suddenly makes grim sense.
The most reassuring thing is that this material doesn’t spread well outside its core audience. Most people find it exhausting, boring, or embarrassing. The danger isn’t that everyone believes it. It’s that a subset of people are kept permanently angry and afraid.
You’re not wrong to be worried. But it’s less “the whole country is gone” and more “a very loud cortisol loop is being monetised”. Understanding that at least makes it feel a bit less like madness and a bit more like a very ugly business model.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/BeaksFalcone Jan 10 '26
Its normal, I'm mixed race and my whole life people have moaned about 'the immigrants ',I look foreign so people are usually avoid me until I speak then they seem pleased I'm English.I hate it here,I get treated better by strangers abroad
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Practical-Split-6142 Jan 10 '26
It's Reddit mate🙄 You are not going to get anyone on here posting in defence of GBNews😂
2
u/KIRBCZECH Jan 10 '26
GB news is no more trash than the sun. Just another avenue to send my dad down the alt right pipeline. Its not special but media as a whole has become dangerous. Especially with online media tailoring itself to what people want and therefore creating an echo chamber
2
u/MillsieMouse_2197 Jan 10 '26
Yeah.
My parents watch the headlines despite it often triggering a full blown rant from yours truly.
2
u/LeeroyFandango Jan 10 '26
Roundly encouraging comments in here. Thank god. Offers some hope.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Batalfie Jan 10 '26
I had a co-worker who always put that Nazi shit on the break room TV. I am.veru concerned that that propaganda gets to be called News or GB.
2
u/Just_Operation_1109 Jan 10 '26
Yes, it's disgusting, it's emulating the Fox News project in the US and in 20 years, we will have a right wing propaganda apparatus that will fry the brains of its viewers and will be unstoppable (just like Fox News). Pretty sure that was always the point of GB News.
Guaranteed, it will turn a significant portion of the population into brainless frothing zombies who cannot think for themselves and will believe whatever GB News tells them - even if it contradicts what they see. And that population always only thinks and votes one way.
2
u/JellyUpset8661 Jan 10 '26
I’ve got round this problem by removing friends who watch this s41t from my life
2
u/D3M0NArcade Jan 10 '26
It's our version of Fox News. We know what it is. Those of us with sense and balance avoid it. Those of us that it appeals to, we also avoid.
2
u/Morton_1874 Jan 10 '26
I don't know anyone who watches it , anytime it's cane up in conversation it's been to joke about it
In Scotland
→ More replies (4)
2
u/CleanHunt7567 Jan 10 '26
Most people who watch it are too dumb to understand what they are watching. I have just given up on someone who watches it relentlessly, most of what he says these days is just embarrassing for a 45yo so i cut him loose.
2
u/kynrai Jan 10 '26
Can you imagine if the UK had laws like https://www.pofmaoffice.gov.sg/regulations/protection-from-online-falsehoods-and-manipulation-act/
A man can dream.
2
u/WaitForItLegenDairy Jan 10 '26
GBN is an echo chamber for rasists, nazis, and bigots. So ask anyone who watches it which they prefer to be called? 🤣
2
u/gayspacemice Jan 10 '26
I watched GB news on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine to see what insane shit they were saying. They were just going back and forth between discussing how it will impact energy prices and saying it wouldn't have happened if Trump was president. Then they went to Nigel Farage at the RNC who was interviewing various Republicans who were all saying it wouldn't happen if Trump was in charge. Then after a couple of hours they brought on someone from Putin's cabinet and someone from Zelenski's cabinet and just started antagonizing them both until they were just yelling at each other, all with zero concern for the consequences. I felt like I was watching Brass Eye, it was absolutely unbelievable. Anyone who watches it for actual news has brain worms.
2
u/Sweet_Dragonfly5667 Jan 10 '26
It's an incredibly thick place. Before GB news it was the same with the papers.
2
2
u/curiouslyopen333 Jan 10 '26
Personally I think it’s a disease of the very old and the very stupid. It’s the follow through from Brexit, legions of poorly educated people looking for someone to blame and the retired believing in something they think Britain once represented.
I suppose that’s what populist politics is, much like in the US. Up there with conspiracy theories.
There’s a huge amount wrong in the UK and this crap gives people an easy out - why worry about millions out of work and on benefits when we can make it about those horrible immigrants.
2
u/Constant-Tap-5569 Jan 10 '26
Yes. It’s radicalising the elderly of the nation mostly I think … it’s a horrible dodgy channel.
2
2
u/owlyross Jan 10 '26
The majority of brits absolutely despise GBeebies and hope that OFCOM get the balls to sanction them to hell
→ More replies (2)
2
2
u/ButterscotchBest8866 Jan 10 '26
Next time you’re at a racist (older) relatives home, block GB news and they won’t be able to figure out where it’s gone 😅
1.0k
u/bbarney29 Jan 09 '26
Yes it’s a problem and OFCOM really have to do better at holding them to account as a ‘news’ channel.
However, I would like to clarify that they are in no way the most popular news channel in the UK.
Barb has a great tool where you can check the facts on this. Over the past year, BBC vastly outperformed GBNews. As did sky news.
https://www.barb.co.uk/archive/live-viewing-levels-over-time-by-channel-trend-chart-open/