Oliver Dowden has referred to as the launch of GB Information a “welcome addition” to media variety in a column defending Britain’s latest information broadcaster.
The tradition secretary warned that fundamental democratic values can now not be taken with no consideration after the upstart channel noticed the withdrawal of promoting from firms reminiscent of Ikea, cider agency Kopparberg and Octopus Power.
The community, which launched final Sunday, has promised to tackle so-called cancel tradition.
Writing in a column posted within the Sunday Telegraph and the Gov.uk web site, Dowden mentioned: “When he launched the channel, veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil vowed that GB Information wouldn’t be ‘an echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset’, and that it will ’empower those that really feel their issues have been unheard’.
“Rightly so. A free media is one which has a various vary of opinions and voices – and as I mentioned earlier this week, GB Information is a welcome addition to that variety. We want shops and commentators who cowl the vary of the political spectrum; who can communicate reality to energy; and who’re prepared to problem dogma or orthodoxy.”
Dowden continued: “I’ve little doubt loads of individuals will disagree with a number of the issues GB Information commentators need to say – simply as loads of individuals disagree with the issues they see and listen to on the BBC, Sky Information or some other media outlet. However if you happen to don’t like these concepts, change over – don’t silence. We shouldn’t be blocking individuals from the dialog just because we disagree with them.”
He added: “Throughout the West, our values of tolerance and freedom of expression more and more threat being undermined by a small however vocal minority.
“For them, these usually are not absolute, however relative, ideas, able to be bent to silence dissent from their world view. We is not going to stand by and permit that to occur.”
GB Information has confronted accusations it will likely be broadcasting US-style partisan information exhibits within the UK with marketing campaign group Cease Funding Hate difficult manufacturers to not place advertisements on the channel earlier than it had even launched.
Whereas GB Information has repeatedly insisted it’s dedicated to producing neutral journalism, this week noticed numerous manufacturers droop their promoting on the community.
Swedish furnishings big Ikea mentioned it had “not knowingly” marketed on GB Information and mentioned it was “within the strategy of investigating how this will likely have occurred to make sure it gained’t occur once more in future”, pulling their advertisements within the meantime – one thing GB Information chair Andrew Neil hit again at on Twitter.
In its assertion, Kopparberg additionally mentioned it was unaware its adverts have been operating on the channel and mentioned they’d been suspended “pending additional overview of its content material”.
Power firm Octopus mentioned it will solely promote with GB Information if it proved to be “genuinely balanced”, whereas The Open College additionally paused its promoting.
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