Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
GET A GRIP Profile picture
@docrussjackson
Jan 7, 2023 • 20 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
#THREAD on GB "News", mainly courtesy of @PrivateEyeNews.

The polarising, increasingly unhinged, & dangerously irresponsible multimillionaire hedge-funder funded GB "News" has become a rich breeding ground for harmful conspiracy theories, effectively becoming the UK's Fox News.
The channel was only founded in 2021 amid much-regretted promises from then frontman Andrew Neill that it would not become a "British Fox News" but has slid deep into #misinformation, #disinformation, & pure #propaganda, often about the COVID pandemic.
In one recent show, presenter Patrick Christys praised a largely discredited new book which claims Covid was genetically engineered and leaked on purpose, with help from US chief national scientific adviser Anthony Fauci and cover-ups by UK scientists.
The book, by one Andrew Huff, has been treated sceptically by other media outlets, but Christys and guest Dominique Samuels claimed it proved that so- called Covid conspiracists were "completely vindicated" on a host of issues.

ecohealthalliance.org/2022/12/ecohea…
Dan Wootton interviewed 'online personality' Andrew Tate, who was allowed to refer to an "imaginary pandemic" and deny that hospitals had been overrun without any challenge. (Tate has been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.)
Off-air & away from @Ofcom regulation, presenters share absurd conspiracies. Samuels tweeted praise for conspiracy theory documentary Died Suddenly, which falsely alleges the Covid vaccine was created by the global elite to kill people & depopulate earth.
Meanwhile, on his personal podcast, GB "News" presenter Mark Steyn said the slowing of the birth rate of "#Aryans", who built "western civilisation", had been accelerated by Covid vaccines. He openly celebrated the fact that @Ofcom does not regulate his personal show.
In 2018, Sky News Australia sparked outcry after it broadcast an interview with a far-right nationalist extremist who has expressed his admiration for #Hitler: then Sky News Australia CEO Angelos Frangopoulos said “It was an error of judgment". Frangopoulos is now CEO of #GBNews.
Another purveyor of wacky Covid opinions is Nick Dixon, a host of GB News's paper review & presenter of the Daily Sceptic podcast, which grew out of a Lockdown Sceptics website founded by Toby Young.

Online, Dixon praises unvaccinated people, calling them "pure bloods".
It's not only the pandemic where those given voice & prominence by GB "News" veer towards the unhinged.

Calvin Robinson, who dresses in an old-fashioned clergy uniform despite the CofE having declined to ordain him, shared an unfounded theory about Ukraine war.
Robinson makes the unfounded claim that Ukraine war money is actually a money-laundering operation for US aid to be donated to the Democratic party via the use of cryptocurrency.
And during recent immigration debates, Calvin Robinson, who is black, repeatedly praised the views of Enoch "Rivers of Blood" Powell, tweeting that "Powell provided an important contribution to the conversation" and changing his background image to a picture of the politician.
Indeed, Robinson - now a regular on Fox "News" where he self-identifies as "Anglican Deacon", "Father" Calvin Robinson - is quite happy to use his @Twitter account as an unpleasant extension of his GB "News" role.

He's also 'Strategy Adviser' to Lawrence Fox's Reclaim Party.
On a recent episode of his Sunday GB "News" programme Common Sense Crusade, Michael Coren, a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada, defended "buffer zones" around abortion clinics to stop anti-abortion activists upsetting people using the services.

newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022…
Coren was promised by producers there would be "civility & friendly disagreement" both on & off air.
However, entirely predictably, host Calvin Robinson took to Twitter to accuse Coren of "twisting scripture" and being "pro- abortion and anti-prayer".
Calvin Robinson told his followers that what Coren had said was "wicked... Judgement awaits". Coren predictably received a slew of what he described as "angry, venomous and abusive" messages as a result.

Robinson also a senior fellow at Policy Exchange.

On-air #misinformation from GB "News" is also
having real world influence.

A recent spate of reports falsely representing that a traffic-calming measure in Oxfordshire was a "climate lockdown" went viral and resulted in abuse & death threats being directed at council staff.
Broadcast regulator @Ofcom does regulate a little: there are two active investigations against GB "News", both against Steyn.

Last spring he wrongly said that having additional Covid vaccines was killing people & slammed a "media silence" on the issue.

pressgazette.co.uk/news/ofcom-gb-…
In October Steyn's guest, the seldom accurate Naomi Wolf, claimed women were being harmed by Covid vaccines.

But @Ofcom is complaints-based, & as most viewers in the GB "News" echo chamber are unlikely to complain, much of its output goes unmonitored.

Even when we do complain to @Ofcom about GB "News", it rarely seems to have any effect.

However, the more of us complain, the more likely they are to stop shamelessly normalising far-right speakers, far-right conspiracy theories, & far-right rhetoric. 🙏

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with GET A GRIP

GET A GRIP Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @docrussjackson

GET A GRIP Profile picture
Nov 11
🧵 OPEN LETTER

Defend the @BBC Before It’s Gone

The BBC isn’t perfect — but it’s ours. As coordinated attacks on its independence intensify, I warn that if we don’t defend it now, we may lose more than a broadcaster — we may lose a cornerstone of British democracy... Image
As a long-time critic of the @BBC, let me spell it out: what we’re seeing right now isn’t organic outrage — it’s a sophisticated coordinated campaign by ideological enemies and commercial competitors to undermine the BBC’s independence and funding. Image
If you can’t see that, you’re being played — and that’s exactly the point.

Let’s start with Michael Prescott, author of the dodgy dossier leaked exclusively to The Telegraph, who is a PR man and former political editor at Murdoch’s Sunday Times.

news.sky.com/story/who-is-m…
Read 40 tweets
GET A GRIP Profile picture
Nov 2
🧵

Shameless Matt Goodwin’s post is a cascade of fearmongering, distortion, and pseudo-intellectual racism.

It takes a handful of horrific individual crimes and turns them into a sweeping indictment of entire communities.

It's pure scapegoating, dressed up as social science.
1. Misrepresenting facts.

Many of the crimes Goodwin cites are still under investigation, misreported, or involve UK citizens, not “illegal migrants.” The Huntingdon suspect is British-born — yet he cites it as evidence of “mass uncontrolled immigration.”
Image
There is no factual link between the Huntingdon attack and migration.

In fact, once you control for age and sex, non-UK nationals are slightly LESS likely to be in prison than UK citizens — and for violence and robbery, non-citizens are under-represented.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/comm…
Read 17 tweets
GET A GRIP Profile picture
Nov 2
🧵

Shameless opportunist Rupert Lowe is the most dangerous and most extreme MP in the UK.

His latest stunt is a letter to the PM that strongly implies the knife attack on a train was the product of “mass immigration” and “Islamic extremism”. It had *nothing* to do with either.
The incident was reported as NOT terror-related and the suspects BRITISH BORN at around 8:30 am: by @BBCNews 8:32; @Guardian 8:34; @SkyNews 8:36;
@ITVNews 8:38.

Lowe published his letter strongly implying it was 'Islamic extremists' on @X at 08:41. It quickly gathered 1M views. Image
Lowe is a modern day Oswald Mosley, shamelessly normalizating far-right discourse.

His letter is political malpractice: it mixes fear, plausible deniability, and ineffective proposals that would shred civil liberties and wreck lives, all while offering zero credible evidence. Image
Read 32 tweets
GET A GRIP Profile picture
Oct 10
🧵

Let's not mince words.

A handful of selfish sociopathic billionaires and the populist politicians and media they fund have deliberately divided and radicalised millions of people across the world, solely to protect their wealth and power.
They claim to want to help “save children” while spreading distrust of experts, reputable journalism, climate science, and vaccines — which have saved over 100 million children since 1974.

By dividing the public, they protect their wealth and power.
Rather than justify how their wealth was earned, these elites cultivate scepticism of their critics and of expertise itself.

This deliberate erosion of trust shields their interests while undermining the science that saves lives and protects our planet.

Read 66 tweets
GET A GRIP Profile picture
Oct 8
🚨

Robert Jenrick closed his Conference speech with: “Let’s build this NEW ORDER. Let’s TAKE our country back.” Hitler's “New Order” was a vision for an Aryan-led Europe which involved exterminating or enslaving “undesirable” minorities.

Jenrick has a Jewish wife. He knew this. Image
Across mainstream platforms and parliamentary stages, an extremely dangerous rhetorical drift is taking hold.

I've written elsewhere about what Prof Ruth Wodak calls “the shameless normalisation of far-right discourse” in relation to British politics.

In Britain, a group of prominent MPs—including Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe, Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman—are normalising far-right discourse through three recurring frames/themes: invasion, scapegoating for cultural destruction, and demographic replacement. Image
Image
Read 31 tweets
GET A GRIP Profile picture
Oct 6
🧵

Let's talk about chainsaw enthusiast, Musk buddy, and darling of the global free-market right, Javier Milei.

Let’s look at which UK politicians and news media have been most effusive in their praise for him, and at whats happened to Argentina since he was elected in 2023. Image
Milei’s election as President of Argentina in November 2023 was met with enthusiasm from right-wing news media and populist politicians who praised his libertarian, anti-establishment platform as a model for radical economic reform. Image
Support was often framed in the context of Thatcherite principles, with Milei seen as a disruptor against "socialism".

1. Kemi Badenoch celebrated Milei as a "template" for her own potential Government, aspiring to be "Britain’s version of Javier Milei". Image
Read 38 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(