When GB News launches at 8pm on Sunday, viewers will for the first time be able to immerse themselves in a non-stop, opinionated, US-style “anti-woke” current affairs television channel aimed at a British audience.
GB News employees have also been told their target audience is “rational, civic-minded centrists” who feel BBC News has lost its way and that there are certain topics that cannot now be discussed without them being shouted down.
As a result, the channel is ditching traditional news bulletins and will instead rely on presenter-led opinion programmes.
Neil’s show will include a section called “Woke Watch”, highlighting perceived examples of political correctness gone mad, and “Media Watch”, patrolling the supposed liberal biases of the media.
No one has played with impartiality guidelines in TV news before,” said Jamie McGowan Stuart, of the media analysts Enders Analysis.
Those involved in the launch suggest a more accurate comparison than Fox News is ITV’s Good Morning Britain during Piers Morgan’s time as host, where the presenter had a knack for honing in on particularly divisive issues that would inevitably spark a day-long social media debate.
Neil, who is used to working with a BBC studio crew, is said by sources at GB News to have been particularly stressed during “shambolic” rehearsals and has expressed fears that his programme could be plagued by technical issues.
One of the ironies of GB News is that it is a channel funded by wealthy elites who believe there is a gap in the market for programmes railing against cultural elites who impose their views on ordinary Britons.
Neil, GB News’s chair and lead presenter, who lists his main residence as France on official filings, is also chair of the Spectator magazine.
While advertising will bring in some money, the ultimate focus will be on convincing a relatively small group of hardcore fans to pay to subscribe to an app that lets them watch programmes and communicate with show hosts.
This would enable a host to express a strong opinion on a culture war topic as long as viewers are later exposed to alternative viewpoints.
Stop Funding Hate, the Twitter-centric campaign group that puts pressure on rightwing news outlets by targeting their advertisers, has already launched a campaign against the channel.