CAMRI | Steven Barnett quoted in French paper Mediapart about Paul Marshall's burgeoning "empire"

Stephen Barnett recently spoke to French online newspaper Mediapart about Paul Marshall, who has just bought the Spectator, and his burgeoning right-wing media empire, including GB News.

The article highlights the “worrying” growth of Sir Paul Marshall’s “empire” in the world of media across the Channel. Marshall is a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and member or the Tory party. In 2023, the New Statesman named him the seventeenth most powerful right-wing political figure in the UK in 2023.

Barnett argues that Ofcom’s weak response to GB News’s rule violations stems from two main factors: the political connections of its leadership and a misunderstanding of freedom of expression. He criticizes Ofcom’s leadership for being too close to the Conservative Party and argues that their interpretation of freedom of expression does not justify the channel’s lack of impartiality.

Barnett also highlights the government’s reluctance to act against GB News due to political reasons, but he expresses hope that Labour might address this if they come to power. He also notes that Paul Marshall is running an ideological project rather than a commercial one and may need to expand his media influence through acquisitions like the Telegraph.

Read the full article (in French) here.

English translation of Barnett’s quotes:

In total, the regulator finally found that GB News had broken the rules twelve times since 2021. “The channel has now been given a few taps on hand,” said Stephen Barnett of the University of Westminster. But nothing that can scare a man who has as much money as Paul Marshall. ”

The reason for the weak response of Ofcom, according to Professor Barnett, is twofold. First, it is committed to the personalities of its members: its president, Sir Michael Grade, is close to the Conservative Party, and its executive leader, Melanie Dawes, would have a failing understanding of freedom of expression. “There is absolutely nothing in legislation, or even in case law, which suggests that freedom of expression is incompatible with impartiality,” says Barnett. Second, Ofcom’s weakness is also the responsibility of the government, which has the power to report a media outlet to the country’s competition authority (CMA). Conservatives “had no worries to let GB News do what she wants.” Stephen Barnett hopes that Labour’s rise to power will make a difference.

Because GB News is “an ideological project, not a commercial one,” he argues. “Paul Marshall is losing money and will continue to lose money. It is not like in the United States, where Murdoch and Fox News are making huge profits from the cable channel. Advertising is almost the only source of revenue for GB News, and it is limited, especially thanks to the efforts of Stop Funding Hate activists.

So, to expand his influence, Paul Marshall needs to expand his portfolio, analyzes Stephen Barnett. “He can use Spectator journalists’ GB News outlets, and if he buys the Telegraph, he can share his resources even more. ”