Entertainment
GB News served with brutal rejection letter from potential guest comparing its stories to ‘sewage spilled on a beach’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro
Dr Sweet very firmly declined the opportunity.
Caption: GB News loses ?60m investor in new blow for channel (Picture: Getty / Wikipedia)
The GB News team got a very firm no from writer, broadcaster and cultural historian Dr Matthew Sweet when he was invited to appear on the show.
The journalist, who has written TV series including Silent Britain, was asked on the channel to discuss a Twitter thread he published about its news items, including one about Covid vaccines, which he slammed for being factually incorrect.
The following day Dr Sweet posted a letter he sent, via his agents, to GB News producers explaining his decision to turn down the appearance.
In the two-page document, he wrote: ‘When I agree to make a media appearance, I need to be reassured that the host and the show meet proper journalistic standards. I do not believe that you and GB News are currently meeting these standards.
‘Moreover, I think that @GBNews is becoming a space through which conspiracy theories are being introduced into the British media.’
Dr Sweet used several examples, including interviewing author Naomi Wolf, who was suspended from Twitter after spreading vaccine misinformation, to illustrate his point.
In a tweet, she had wrongly claimed the Covid-19 jabs were a ‘software platform that can receive uploads.’
Blasting several other stories that aired on the programmes, Dr Sweet added: ‘I compared this work to sewage spilled on a beach. If Twitter is the beach, and the errors and false claims in your GB News programme are the sewage, I think this simile is reasonable.’
Dr Sweet said he ‘looked forward’ to GB News’ reply, adding he had sent a copy of the letter to media watchdog Ofcom.
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As stated by Dr Sweet in his letter, GB News is currently under investigation by the regulator after presenter Mark Steyn made misleading claims about the side effects of Covid booster vaccines.
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The TV channel launched in May 2021 and has already seen major changes to its line-up with original chairman Andrew Neil and former BBC presenter Simon McCoy departing.
Neil has since gone on to host his own Channel 4 show and labelled his former employer a ‘disaster’ that brought him ‘close to a breakdown’.
Metro.co.uk has approached GB News for comment
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