Andrew Neil: GB News Is An Outlet For ‘Bizarre Conspiracy Theories’ And Ofcom ‘Needs To Find A Backbone’

Spectator chairman and veteran journalist Andrew Neil said he left GB News after it became “an outlet for bizarre conspiracy theories” and blasted media watchdog Ofcom for being “tolerant” of the broadcaster, saying the regulator “needs to find a backbone.”

The comments were made during a session on Tuesday with the House of Lords Communications Committee, who grilled Neil about the evolving and future challenges in the British media landscape. Neil discussed the roles mainstream broadcasters play in meeting audience needs, amid rising competition from new entrants like GB News and TalkTV.

Neil left the BBC in September 2020 to join GB News as chairman with a prime time show on the network. However, after presenting only eight shows in two weeks, Neil went on hiatus, finally resigning a year later in 2021. Since then he has called the move the “single biggest mistake” of his career and become a critic of the broadcaster.

Speaking to the committee, the veteran journalist spoke of his decision to resign and the direction that GB News took soon after launch: “What I didn’t want it to become, I could see it was happening, which is why I left almost immediately, was an outlet for bizarre conspiracy theories, or anti-vaxxers, or basically the nutty end of politics. Which Fox News is, I say, very good at. And in America there’s a bigger market for that. There’s no market in Britain beyond a hardcore of nutters. Am I allowed to say nutters? I just said nutters.”

Baroness Wheatcroft asked: “So, is the outlook for GB News, as far as you’re concerned, fairly gloomy? Not just because you’re concerned, because they’ve got the model wrong.”

Neil replied: “I need to be careful what I say here because I’m quite surprised that GB News has survived as long as it has. And I’m even more surprised that it’s all off at Talk TV. I actually thought Talk TV might do real damage to GB News because it did have better production values and it wasn’t so conspiracy theory. It had a variety. I think it did kind of lean to the right, but it had a variety of opinions and they weren’t all to the right.”

He continued: “I think GB News has found, to my surprise, it’s found a niche for itself, but it’s not a very big niche and it’s not a niche that can ever be profitable… It has lost over £90 million and it lost more in year two than it lost in year one. Whereas the original business model was to break even by year three. I think I’m pretty safe in saying that won’t happen.”

Neil added: “So if there’s a bunch of people who want to carry on financing it because they like the ideology, well, that’s up to them. But I find it very hard to see how it could ever be profitable or even break even.”

Discussing investigations into GB News’ impartiality by Ofcom, Neil was equally scathing, criticising the watchdog for its “tolerant” approach and claiming that if he had continued his chairmanship at the broadcaster issues around politicians interviewing politicians would not have happened.

“I’m surprised how tolerant Ofcom has been of GB News,” Neil said. “I think it may be because Ofcom knows that the rest of the broadcast universe is on the centre, centre-left, bit more left, band. And so it gave GB News a bit more leeway to try and settle down.”

He continued: “I am surprised that any regulator would allow politicians sitting in the House of Parliament to present TV programs, political TV programs. I mean, if I had stayed as chairman, it would never have happened because I would not have had any politician present a television show in the first place. And I would certainly never have allowed politicians to interview other politicians from the same party. I mean, I just find that incredible. And I think in these areas, Ofcom needs to find a backbone, and quick.”