United Kingdom: Rupert Murdoch launches his new news channel with a shocking interview with Donald Trump

United Kingdom: Rupert Murdoch launches his new news channel with a shocking interview with Donald Trump

What could be better than a former White House tenant at the opening of a television channel betting on “animated debates”? In an already overloaded British media landscape, media mogul Rupert Murdoch is launching his new channel, “TalkTV”, starting Monday with an interview with Donald Trump broadcasting at 7PM (6PM GMT) .

Not even airing yet, the interview is already mired in controversy. In a video clip promoting the show titled “Uncensored”, Donald Trump can be seen suddenly leaving the room after a heated exchange of words in the 2020 US presidential election.

In a statement, the former president said presenter Piers Morgan had tried “illegally and deceptively” to cut his long and exhausting interview. “It will all be there,” replied the journalist, who characterized his show as a “fearless platform for lively debate” and “a celebration of everyone’s right to have an opinion.”

The interview also marks the big comeback of Piers Morgan, known for his fiery outbursts aimed at perceived political correctness, as he left the ITV channel’s morning show live in March 2021. He accused Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle of lying, who in an interview mentioned her suicidal thoughts and lack of support from the royal family.

compete with bbc

TalkTV will air on UK television, streaming platforms and YouTube and will be hosted by journalists from The Times and The Sun, two newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Interviews with the US President will be broadcast in parallel on Fox Nation and Sky News Australia in the United States, as well as the properties of the Australian media magnate.

While the latter has long been irritated by UK law, which restricts the kind of pro-Trump content that it can broadcast in the United States on its Fox News Channel, it has drawn controversy for its empire in the United Kingdom. Fertile ground has been found and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “anti-wake” agenda. And he has the advantage of having good relations with the Conservative government, which recently targeted the BBC and another public broadcaster, Channel 4.

“Mr. Murdoch’s real aim is to hit the BBC,” said Jean Seaton, a media professor at the University of Westminster and the official historian for the public audiovisual group, admitting that “the BBC and the public broadcaster are a thorn in it. News International (a UK subsidiary of News Corp.)”.

Originally designed to compete with GB News, a conservative channel that launched last summer, TalkTV is now entering the overcrowded British media landscape. In June 2020, Rupert Murdoch’s group, News Corp, had already launched Times Radio, which was to compete with BBC Radio 4, the public news channel.

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