Might there be evidence that Paul Marshall might finally be tiring of pouring million after million into his hard right TV channel GB News? A swingeing round of job cuts would suggest so.
The channel, which lost £22 million in the last financial year, bringing its total losses to more than £130 million since 2021, is understood to be cutting a substantial number of jobs, with as many as 90 at risk – more than a third of its entire headcount.
Marshall had long been said to have been happy throwing cash at the channel as it was an ideological project rather than a normal business. But while it still retains high weekly average viewing figures, it attracts a smaller audience than its rivals, suggesting it is watched more consistently by a smaller, loyal audience.
Suggested Reading
Owen Jones makes a boob on the radio
Now a fresh round of cuts is coming with the editorial, technology and HR departments bearing the brunt – and, invariably, the highly-paid, front-of-camera talent being spared.
None of the big-name politician-presenters are affected, such as Nigel Farage, who last week declared a further £18,000 from GB News for six hours of hosting his evening talk show, meaning the channel has paid him a total of £427,000 during his 18 months in Parliament. The likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson are also said to be safe.
Donald Trump will also be delighted that his favourite presenter, Bev Turner, will also avoid the chop, despite rumours that the former basketball presenter is making a whopping £420,000 a year for doing the channel’s graveyard shift. That went down as well as one might imagine with producers on a starting salary of £30,000 or camera operators on £24,000.
The cuts are said to have soured the channel’s fifth anniversary party, held last month. One former staffer told the Times: “The celebrations went down like a cup of cold sick.”
“It is already very, very lean, although it had fattened slightly after the last round of redundancies because that’s the natural way of things,” the former staffer said. “Output was affected last time and it will be again but newsrooms just absorb it. Fewer stories, done less well.”
But a GB News spokesman said the channel led the way in “introducing ground-breaking workflows” in British broadcasting.
“Our proposals build on this and are currently being discussed with affected staff,” he said. “New positions in the proposed workflows are being created. There will be no changes to GB News programming.” As long as they can retain the budget for Lee Anderson’s cat food!
Most popular
Pakistan’s solar miracle – how the hell did they do it?
We are living in the age of climate unreality
An evening with the last of the great Brexit denialists
Sorry, but you can’t write Farage off yet
