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I’ve written a new article - News UK TV and GB News: new channels stoke fears of more partisan journalism – for @ConversationUK - https://theconversation.com/news-uk-tv-and-gb-news-new-channels-stoke-fears-of-more-partisan-journalism-154514 Thread 1/?
I raise concerns both channels will push against the boundaries of Ofcom’s impartiality code, and adopt a more opinionated brand of journalism than television news channels have typically pursued in the UK. 2/
Like radio stations such as LBC and talk RADIO, they will have to counter-balance left and right wing voices in their schedules in order to comply with Ofcom’s impartiality rules. 3/
More people oppose than support allowing a Fox-style channel to broadcast in the UK. But a significant minority do not know whether it is a good or bad idea – suggesting limited public debate about the consequences of opinionated news channels: https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1300817837074927616?s=20 4/
The growth of online news and social media has made journalism far more opinionated. And over time, this has had a subtle but significant influence on the editorial values of broadcasters, with more reporters delivering judgements about politics: https://www.routledge.com/News-and-Politics-The-Rise-of-Live-and-Interpretive-Journalism/Cushion/p/book/9780415744713 5/
My research has explored how regulators no longer use a stopwatch to police impartiality in broadcast coverage of political parties. Instead, they give broadcasters considerable flexibility in how they editorially frame political events and issues. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464884916685909
It remains to be seen how GB News and News UK TV will abide by their impartiality requirements. How critical they are of the government’s handling of the pandemic will be one litmus test, as will the degree to which they balance perspectives from across the political spectrum.
There are, of course, more subtle forms of bias that can bypass regulatory attention. Since news values are not politically neutral, both channels could routinely select stories – about crime, say, or Brexit – that encourage audiences to adopt a particular view of the world. 8/
Ofcom will face intense political pressure. Its regulation will police the boundaries of GB News/News UK TV coverage. If standards in accuracy and impartiality are not robustly regulated, Fox-style journalism could soon become an accepted norm of the UK’s broadcast ecology. Ends!
