GB News has felt the full-ish force of Ofcom this week; well – as forceful as the unfit-for-purpose broadcasting regulator gets. However, it wasn’t the only one targeting the hate-mongering, lie-peddling, far-right TV station. Activists made their feelings about GB News very clear, too – right outside its front door.
GB News: a torrent of lies and disinformation
Days after the government released a new definition of extremism, Extinction Rebellion activists blockaded the offices of GB News and its multi-millionaire owner Paul Marshall – branding him and his pet broadcaster as ‘the real extremists’ – demanding an end to their torrent of climate crisis lies and disinformation.
In a dramatic escalation of Extinction Rebellion’s Rebel For Truth campaign, on Monday 18 March protesters blocked the main doors of the headquarters of GB News with a metal tripod structure and two people locked themselves to its legs:
Other protesters used fire extinguishers to spray windows with black liquid representing the oil and fossil fuel products setting the planet on fire while fellow activists with flares swathed the building in Paddington, London, in black smoke:
A masked Extinction Rebellion climber wearing a Marshall Wace Hoodie dangled a Pinocchio puppet in a Union Jack waistcoat from on top of the tripod to symbolise the way that the station lies for it’s fossil fuel paymasters:
Other activists unfurled banners reading: “GB News Cut The Ties to Fossil Fuel” and “Rebel for Truth”:
A string of protesters encircled the entrance holding placards depicting the faces of GB News presenters including Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees Mogg, Richard Tice, and Lee Anderson, and station owner Marshall. Beneath each of them is written the word ‘Extremist’:
An extremist organisation
Letters from Extinction Rebellion were emailed to GB News, MO6 (the Metropolitan Police unit specialising in public order planning), Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Lord Walney, the ‘independent’ adviser on political violence and disruption who has created the government’s new extremism definition.
They asked for an immediate investigation of GB News as an extremist organisation peddling an ideology of violence, hate, and intolerance with the intent of undermining our democracy, and for the broadcaster to be added to a new list of extremists.
All the letters demanded an inquiry into whether owner Marshall is a fit and proper person to hold a broadcasting licence. His company also holds £2.2bn in fossil fuel investments.
‘Looking in the wrong places’
Jon Fuller, one of the Extinction Rebellion team which targeted GB News, said:
Our government is currently obsessed with identifying extremists, but they’re looking in the wrong places. The TV Lie Factory inside this building perfectly fits their new definition of extremism by peddling an ideology of violence, hate, and intolerance aimed at wrecking our liberal democracy.
Fake claims by GB News presenters that the climate crisis is either not real or not serious reach millions of social media users, TV viewers and newspaper readers.
By sowing climate doubt and confusion amongst our fellow citizens, GB News helps ensure our politicians feel no pressure at the ballot box to act urgently to stop a future of deadly famine, flood, heatwaves, storms, and war becoming a reality.
They are putting billions of lives at ever-greater risk by delaying action to tackle the climate crisis. We are calling on the station to cease its extremist behaviour and for the police and government to take it off the air if it fails to do so.
GB News: the very definition of extremism
Todd Smith, another Extinction Rebellion activist, said:
Paul Marshall is the very definition of an extremist. He has “liked” and retweeted dozens of racist, Islamophobic, and homophobic tweets, his pet TV station GB New spouts climate lies and anti-immigrant poison, he’s trying to buy extremist newspaper the Telegraph, and he bankrolled Brexit.
One-in-three GB News presenters denied climate science on air, while more than half have attacked government and business actions to tackle the accelerating climate and ecological crisis.
It’s clear that he’s trying to use his money and his media influence to stop urgent action on climate change and to divide the British people against each other through hate and intolerance. He must be stopped. We’re calling upon the government and the police to act against him immediately.
The action at GB News is the latest escalation of Extinction Rebellion’s Rebel For Truth campaign that has seen activists under the banner Stop Selling Lies challenge the climate disinformation at the offices of the Daily Mail and the Telegraph every week for four months.
Featured image and additional images via William Templeton/Extinction Rebellion
