opinion
Piers Morgan’s move to YouTube could be an experiment for News UK, while Tucker Carlson demonstrated the dangers of content that doesn’t touch traditional editorial standards.
This week, two prominent and controversial journalists and TV presenters (one considerably more reliable than the other) discuss in dramatic ways the dramatic changes that will affect the world of broadcasting and communications. Proven.
We’ve known for years that through the miracle of YouTube, relatively unknown people can amass the thinnest of material, vast audiences, and the wealth that comes with it. This online potential generates toxic substances that are difficult to control.
But MrBeast, a young American, has amassed more than 350 million YouTube subscribers, largely through extravagant philanthropy, and is on track to become the first YouTube billionaire (other than the founder). Who would have imagined that?
give up bondage
Piers Morgan’s decision was still noteworthy. Piers Morgan uncensored He released his interview show on YouTube and was no longer tied to appearing on the TalkTV linear broadcast channel’s regular time slot.
The decision is a sign of the fact that talk TV hasn’t necessarily increased viewership — despite the ongoing debate over the meaning of broadcast fairness — and its grip on right-wing TV news viewers. It’s not even close to GB News, which is in partnership with media regulator Ofcom.
Morgan gets a number of big interviews but is still struggling to get 100,000 viewers on Talk TV, while his Rishi Sunak interview (on whether refugees will actually go to Rwanda before the election) The infamous £1,000 bet) had amassed 430,000 views on YouTube by Tuesday.
This change is not as dramatic as it first appears. Some of Morgan’s interviews can still be seen from time to time on TalkTV, and he mostly works under a lucrative contract with the Murdoch family’s News UK, which owns the Piers Morgan Uncensored brand. no doubt.
So Morgan may not have gotten rid of all the “shackles”, just given up some of the immediacy and impact of network television.
Perhaps this operation is also an experiment to see if it can provide a template for loss-making channels after the election is over.
It is inconceivable that Talk TV will be taken off the air before the election while Rupert Murdoch is still lurking behind the scenes. However, at the moment it seems very likely that the Conservatives will lose the election, which could change everything. In that case, the YouTube path could start to look very attractive and much cheaper than traditional broadcasting.
Not challenged or scrutinized
Morgan has had many questionable periods in his career, but at least they’ve been factored into his many years of real journalistic accomplishments. world news And that daily mirror.
The same cannot be said for Tucker Carlson. His interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week was another “seismic” event that showed how much the media landscape is changing.
And the implications of this interview are even more serious. This gave Putin unsuspecting and unscrutinized access to the Russian president’s first interview with a Western broadcaster since the invasion of Ukraine to a global audience.
For Putin, Carlson, who was fired from a high-profile position at Fox News last year, was a natural choice. After all, Mr. Carlson has said in the past that NATO exists primarily to torment Mr. Putin and that he actively promoted Trump conspiracy theories before falling out with Mr. Murdoch.
The “meeting” has been widely criticized for allowing Putin to continue his outlandish views on Russia’s history, with Karlsson criticizing Putin for the invasion and the atrocities committed by the military against civilians. I couldn’t challenge the president.
Carlson even falsely claimed that mainstream journalists never bothered to request interviews with President Putin, when in fact the requests were routinely denied.
lack of standards
The two-hour session, broadcast on the Tucker Carlson Network, was broadcast to the world unedited, with no context or attempt to refute the obvious lies.
And that’s the danger of this new way of doing business. Any old piece of trash can get out into the world without being influenced by traditional editorial standards.
For Carlson, this interview would have helped establish the existence of the Tucker Carlson Network, even though his performance drew criticism, and we can probably expect more trending material of a similar standard. . do not have Basic fact checking.
Every new development or way to grab attention means more competition for scarce digital advertising revenue. This is clearly a serious concern for the established media, which is facing a decline in revenue and job losses at Reach and Channel 4, and possibly at Media as well. guardianis expected to make a loss of £39m in its latest financial year.
YouTube changes
But there’s a clear irony in Morgan and Carlson’s desire to have more freedom to create programming with YouTube and others. YouTube may be heading in the opposite direction, in a direction similar to broadcast television.
YouTube TV has grown from 5 million to 8 million subscribers since July, and indeed subscribers can now watch Super Bowl coverage in 4K.
Forget short stories, YouTube follows TV
YouTube’s increased migration to TV is aimed at increasing viewing time and associated ad spend.
As digital strategist Graham Swallow points out, a 10-minute video clip can get 250,000 views or 41,000 hours of watch time, while a 2-hour video can get 500,000 views. Or it could be 1 million hours of playtime.
So Morgan and Carlson’s strange influence in trying to escape the constraints of broadcast television could end up giving streamers the extended viewing time they crave.
Raymond Snoddy is a media consultant, national newspaper columnist and former presenter of BBC News’ Newswatch. He writes for his The Media Leader on Wednesdays. Read his column here.