MOUTH OF THE WEAR
New TV channels are definitely ‘not woke’ – or even interesting
UK news and current affairs broadcasts are required to offer “due impartiality”, but not obliged to be interesting. Happily, for certain new channels, there are ways around impartiality, enabling them to be both biased and dull.
No one has the right not to be offended, which benefits broadcasters and interviewees who wish to air controversy. It’s difficult to know whether they actually believe what they say, or if they just want to be noticed.
Whatever, the result is round-the-clock ranting from people so far to the right as to be on the next pitch, with the occasional lefty thrown in for appearance’s sake. Scouring the industry for people with actual talent is evidently unnecessary.
One noted and insatiable attention seeker, who last year left a job in a public paddy after being out-argued by a weatherman, is back. Apparently.
Once a highly-respected judge of somersaulting dogs on Britain’s Got Talent, our man, whose name escapes me, is plugged with the slogan, “Love him or hate him, you won’t want to miss him”, which is as untrue as it is unoriginal.
After modest viewing figures for an interview with Donald Trump, during which Trump said nothing new, ratings have immediately returned to the carpet (59,000).
You can tell how desperate programme makers are when they relentlessly point out how fearlessly politically incorrect their stars are.
For example, our man can’t use the word “woke” enough. If people don’t like him they should just man up. Rrrrr.
What’s strange is just how thin-skinned he is himself. He recently threw (another) tantrum, this time on Lorraine Kelly’s show, before a trademark huffy walk-out. He’s a bit woke like that.
Plenty of evidence is offered of how tedious and repetitive these channels are before we have even watched them, by the cliches with which they are (self ) described.
We refer to witless descriptions such as “fiery”, “plain speaking”, “straight talking”, “doesn’t hold back”, “unmissable”, “everybody’s talking about …”, “no nonsense”, “pulls no punches”, “uncompromising,” “bold”, “dose of common sense”, “no holds barred” …
You get the picture.
I’m not saying don’t watch; just don’t say you weren’t warned.