Given the honour of asking the first question at a White House press briefing this week, Beverley Turner, a Washington-based journalist for GB News, provocatively inquired: “Is the President prepared to bankrupt the BBC in his pursuit of truth and justice?”
The invitation to ridicule the UK national broadcaster was embraced by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who responded: “The President has made it very clear that this is a leftist propaganda machine that is unfortunately subsidised by British taxpayers.”
Donald Trump has identified his moment to redefine British media. He is suing the BBC for “anywhere between a billion and $5bn”, just as it begins difficult negotiations for an extension to the public funding model that enables it to be the world’s most popular media organisation by audience.
Trump’s libel action over a misleading Panorama edit of his notorious 2021 speech outside the Capitol came with an accusation that the BBC’s bosses were “very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a presidential election.” But his own efforts to shift the political balance of UK media can also be seen as unwelcome interference in the internal affairs of a country he deems “our number one ally”.
Trump is endorsing his British media champions, publicly thanking The Telegraph for exposing Panorama’s unethical splicing of separate parts of his speech (for which BBC Newsnight was also culpable). The White House now loves GB News. “@BBCNews is dying because they are anti-Trump Fake News. Everyone should watch @GBNews,” Leavitt tweeted last week. When Turner’s US-based GB News show began last month, Trump’s spokesperson attended the launch.
The President duly granted GB News an exclusive interview during which a fawning Turner gushed: “You’ve done so much in such a short space of time!” She teed him up to attack Sadiq Khan as “a nasty person” and suggest that London is a place where people are “stabbed in the ass”. Turner replied: “It’s true, it’s awful.” Unchallenged by his interviewer, Trump declared climate change “a hoax”.
That the President is meddling with British news should not be a surprise. Firstly, because he has used his social media pulpit and litigious instincts to bully American networks into taking a more sympathetic editorial line when covering his administration. Secondly, because American business is seeking a controlling grip on the UK’s media.
The founders of GB News were Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider, two Anglo-American conservatives who believed Britain needed a more right-leaning alternative to public service news offerings. While the channel denied wanting to be a “British Fox News”, its format of opinionated panellists debating populist themes is reminiscent of the lucrative US network.
GB News has a tiny fraction of Fox’s audience and loses money, but it has recast the UK television news landscape and Trump’s support gives it new relevance. Potentially it could have greater access to the White House and press trips on Air Force One than the BBC, if the corporation remains in legal strife with the President.
The Telegraph has been stalked by American owners. Would-be buyer Gerry Cardinale, a private equity investor, thought he had acquired the historic outlet with a £500m bid by his New-York based RedBird Capital group. Writing in The Telegraph last month, he promised to turn the title into “the global centre right equivalent to the New York Times”. But on Friday, RedBird dropped its bid, after reports alleged that Cardinale threatened to “go to war” with the The Telegraph’s newsroom over its coverage of the private equity group.
Cardinale’s interests in UK media do not end there though. He took a 25 per cent stake in the August deal that saw Skydance Media merge with Paramount Global, acquiring a portfolio that includes Channel 5. Skydance’s largest shareholder is Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man and a big supporter of Trump.
Piers Morgan, another fan of the President, recently brought his transatlantic Uncensored show to Channel 5. But Morgan believes that the future of news is YouTube. UK media outlets are desperate to build their profiles on the California-based platform, which has become a key source of news for young people, as has TikTok (which Ellison and Skydance are also trying to buy).
Rupert Murdoch’s News UK stable is, of course, a subsidiary of Manhattan-based News Corp. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s toxic X platform unduly obsesses British journalists, ensuring the UK news agenda follows the lines of American culture wars.
Not all American interest in British media is from the right. Philadelphia-based Comcast, owners of Universal Pictures and NBC News (which the White House considers left-leaning), has run Sky News for seven years and now wishes to swallow up ITV.
And American money is good for the UK’s creative industries. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ dominate the streaming market but have supported Britain in becoming a global hub for media skills, while Pinewood Studios is set to be the world’s biggest studio lot.
Your next read
square SARAH BAXTERTrump may not make it to 2028 with his health intact
square TERRI WHITENoughties diet culture destroyed our girls. I can’t believe it’s back
square JON SOPELAs the BBC’s man in Washington I felt untouchable – until Trump
square EMMA BARNETTI lost myself – but HRT is bringing me back
But the growing American capture of British media is real, and mostly happening beyond the sight lines of audiences. With it comes the ability to influence our news and culture.
Donald Trump – for all of his love and respect for royal pageantry and Scottish golf courses – understands that the BBC, as a 103-year-old public institution that will never be for sale, stands as a bulwark against that shift. And he is trying to take it down.
As this Labour Government reflects on how the BBC should be funded after 2027, it needs to act decisively and fast. Another friend of Trump’s, Nigel Farage, the star presenter for GB News, is getting closer to Downing Street. The cuts he might want to impose could be more frightening than the President’s multi-billion dollar action.
Hence then, the article about trump wants to crush the bbc time for labour to take a stand was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Trump wants to crush the BBC. Time for Labour to take a stand )
Also on site :
- PIN Stockholder Alert: Shareholder Rights Law Firm Robbins LLP Reminds Investors of the Class Action Lawsuit Against Pinterest, Inc.
- Spain’s FA condemns Islamophobic chants during game with Egypt
- Teenagers wreak havoc in Clapham during Easter holiday ‘link up’