“Welcome to GB News“: It was 8 pm sharp in Paris on Sunday June 13 when Andrew Neil, 72, a slightly reddish British media star – and president of the new channel – appeared on screen. “We will no longer echo Westminster gossip disconnected from British reality, this Andrew Neil. We will give a voice to those who have felt excluded or even silenced in our main national debates.”

This is @afneil. Welcome to GB News pic.twitter.com/rgvZIrNRER

– GB News (@GBNEWS) June 13, 2021

“If it’s important to you, it’s important to us“This is the chain’s mantra.”We are committed to covering the agenda of the people, not the media“.

The tone is clearly anti-elite, populist, even reactionary. GB News promises debate and fights. In the name of “freedom of expression” and of the “defense of democracy“Its journalists promise to bring censored guests to other places on the set and give their opinion with passion.”Our presenters will have the freedom to speak their minds, have fun and be brave on the issues that really matter to British people.“announces director of programming and news John McAndrew.

The channel does not offer newspapers or reports, but talks, talks and more talks. All in very dark studios illuminated by red, white, blue neon lights, in the patriotic colors of the Union Jack, as well as the channel logo.

Is GB News the British clone of the American model of Fox News ? This is true in terms of format and principle, but GB News rejects any comparison “simplistic“with the controversial conservative American channel: he denies having misinformation, propagating conspiracy theses, or even fueling a cultural divide that British tabloids are already navigating.

Killer of “cancel crop“that would ban conservative voices and the”woke up“- awareness of injustices particularly related to skin color or gender – the first news channel to launch in the UK in twenty years claims to target a wide audience.

However, it is no coincidence that GB News is entering a post-Brexit UK today. Its main funder, Paul Mashall, is a millionaire who supported the “get out” campaign during the 2016 referendum. On Sunday night, one of its first guests was Nigel Farage, a pro-Brexit Europhobe.

Delighted to be in the @GBNEWS launching.

Catch me @danwoottonThe new show later. pic.twitter.com/o9dxSnZkoG

– Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 13, 2021

GB News sees itself as an alternative to Sky News and in the BBC, accused of being anti-Brexit and having left out half the British population.

Is your economic model viable? GB News is a free channel that is financed mainly by advertising (there were many on Sunday night, during the first hours of the program). Its operating budget promises to be limited to presenters’ salaries and not to exceed £ 25 million per year. Fox has an equally slim model, but it uses sponsorship deals and cable royalties, which GB News doesn’t.

In Europe, however, most news channels are losing money or supported by the state (Sky News, the latest new channel launched in the UK, operates at an annual loss of around £ 40 million). How not to suspect that GB News is more of a political project than a commercial one?