TV News Is Not A Dream Factory

Michael Hedges September 26, 2021 - Follow on Twitter

Reaching for the stars encompasses the media world. And everybody wants to be a star. Getting there requires more than a spaceship. Often talent, always drive with that sprinkling of opportunity. Some are motivated by that hit or miss challenge. Reality says, though, it’s money that matters.

Just short of six months ago, News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks informed the world that the company was reigning in plans to launch a TV news channel. It had been no secret that News Corporation executive chairman Rupert Murdoch pined for a UK TV news channel but just could not get the perfect deal. Ms Brooks said the project, assumed to be commingled with News UK-owned Talk Radio, was just too expensive.

“While there is consumer demand for alternative news provision, the costs of running a rolling news channel are considerable, and it is our assessment that the payback for our shareholders wouldn’t be sufficient,” wrote Ms Brooks in an memo to News UK staff, reported by the Guardian (April 27). “We need to launch the right products for the digital age.” UK media regulator Ofcom had already approved a broadcast license. The former Fox News and CBS News executive hired to spearhead the project - David Rhodes - exited for an advisory role with News Corporation on streaming TV projects.

Obviously a lot has changed in those few weeks, something UK media watchers find rather normal. A well-known TV show host stomped off the set after taking flack for a series of racist comments. Rival GB News launched in a flurry of publicity, a boost rather short-lived. Then our Ms Brooks said the talkTV project was back on. In the midst, the right-wing populist UK Conservative Party continued making noises about privatizing Channel 4 as well as reducing the reach and impact of public broadcaster BBC. There was more.

In keeping with tabloid style, Piers Morgan and Good Morning Britain co-host Alex Beresford engaged in a “tense” on-air argument in March over an interview by Oprah Winfrey with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, reported UK tabloid The Sun (March 9). Without the dignity of Elvis, Mr. Morgan dramatically walked off the ITV set. The performance brought praise from folks uncomfortable with Ms Markle’s racial heritage not to forget Prince Harry’s perceived disloyalty to the Royal status quo. It also drew more than 50 thousand complaints to media regulator Ofcom. Hours later Mr. Morgan separated from the program and ITV.

Mr. Morgan has a long tenure as a newspaper columnist and TV show host, typically with wide and bold opinions. He worked for tabloids Sun and now-defunct News of the World, published by subsidiaries of News Corporation, principally owned by the Murdoch family. He was editor of Daily Mirror early in the turbulent phone-hacking days. A transition to television included several talkshows on ITV and, briefly, US channel CNN. Then it was on to talent shows in the UK and US, eventually appearing on Celebrity Apprentice.

The arrival of GB News was announced a year ago by associates of Liberty Global chairman John Malone. At about the same time longtime BBC political reporter Andrew Neil said his tenure at the BBC would end after the 2020 US political election season and he would become chairman of the GB News venture as well as host of a daily show. Fundraising continued with investment from Discovery, John Malone being a principal shareholder, hedge fund manager and major Brexit contributor Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum. Mr. Neil described the project championing “robust, balanced debate and a range of perspectives on the issues that affect everyone in the UK, not just those living in the London area” as "the vast number of British people who feel underserved and unheard by their media,” to ITV News (September 25, 2020).

GB News took to the airwaves in June with numerous technical faults, advertisers balking at the right-wing populist bent and critics aghast. Staff turnover was significant. But, the target audience tuned in initially, not huge numbers but acceptable for a new TV channel. There were “talks” with the aforementioned Mr. Morgan, stumbling over money. Mr. Neil “took a break” ten days after the launch. Newly hired show host Nigel Farage, known most as an ardent Brexit campaigner, debuted in July to scant audience. In August the audience for GB News trickled to near nothing. The rest of summer passed without incident.

September arrived with Mr. Neil resigning completely - and angrily - from GB News over “differences of opinion,” reported the Guardian (September 13). That turned to sulking and sobbing. “The direction they were going in was not the direction that I had outlined.” The vaunted Financial Times (September 13) offered that the “faction eager for a more populist approach” had won out.

Days later News UK’s Ms Brooks said the talkTV project was back on, reported Reuters (September 16). "We are committed to providing choice for television and streaming viewers and bringing the best of our journalism to the screen.” News UK, she added, would be taking advantage of staff from its newspapers, radio channels and “others.”

Later the same day Rupert Murdoch himself announced that Piers Morgan would be joining talkTV and News Corporation more broadly. “Piers is the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire,” said the fearless master, quoted by The Scotsman (September 16). “Piers is a brilliant presenter, a talented journalist and says what people are thinking and feeling. He has many passionate fans around the world and we look forward to expanding his audience in the UK, at FOX Nation, Sky News Australia, The Sun and the New York Post.” Mr. Morgan will return to the airwaves and newspaper columns in “early 2022” when talkTV launches in the UK.

Every UK media watcher rounded on the developments, often rather emotionally. Observers with a bit more academic distance stuck with the obvious. “The fact that some brands have been able to build a lucrative niche in the much, much larger and much, much more polarised US media market, does not automatically mean that there are similar lucrative niches in much smaller and much less polarised media markets,” said Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University director Rasmus Kleis Nielsen to Wired UK (September 24). “For the same reasons that the magazine business was never as differentiated in the UK as in the US, or for that matter, cable television and satellite television was never as differentiated in the UK as it was the US – part of it is simply about market size.”

“(They) will have to think through what it is as an operation and as a business. Is it primarily television oriented with a digital spin-off? Or is it primarily digitally oriented with a television spin-off?” Mr Nielson concluded. “I don’t think it’s clear from the outset, from the outside, what’s changed. And the fact that someone else has tried to do it and arguably fumbled doesn’t strengthen the case.”

Completely unrelated, changes to corporate governance at News Corporation have been filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noted Hollywood Reporter (September 24). A US$1 billion share buyback program has been authorized. The voting stake for the Murdoch Family Trust was capped at 44%. And, too, a “poison pill” defense against hostile takeovers has been scrapped. Financial experts suggest this is a sign the company is looking for new investment.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in the UK

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• Hot Topics - News Corporation/Rupert Murdoch