GB News Pushes Wacko Covid Remedy

Its chairman Andrew Neil said on the channel’s opening night that Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) would not be pushing conspiracy theories, and that any host so doing would be suitably dealt with. Ten weeks later, GB News is indeed dealing in wacko conspiracy theories, and no admonishment is being administered.

Calvin Robinson

Simon Clarke of the University of Reading, who you can tell as he’s a doctor, observed the other day “Can't quite believe that in August 2021 I've been told by some jumped up wannabe on [GB News] all about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and possibly some other bullshit for Covid-19”. Uh-oh. And there was more.

“I might just as well have been quizzed on the effectiveness of leeches and the therapeutic uses of mercury … Oh yeah - vitamin D, that was the other [crap]. Clear breach of Ofcom's expected standards during the pandemic”. So would a GB News host care to raise head above parapet? Supremely glib Calvin Robinson would. “You okay?” he sneered back.

He added this summary of his superior insights. “Interviews now available on Facebook and Telegram … Vaccine coercion … Vitamin D … Ivermectin … Hydroxychloroquine … Dr says ‘there’s no evidence’ and flaps when confronted with evidence. Almost as if there’s some kind of narrative?” Clarke didn’t “flap”. Let’s see what happened, shall we?

After Clarke had told Robinson what was, and wasn’t, available for treating Covid-19, the host asked “and hydroxychloroquin, for example?” The Doc firmly rejected that one. “Show me it works. There is zero evidence that it works”. “We have a report from Harvard” countered Robinson. What say Dr Clarke? “No, really, there is zero evidence that it works. I’m not going down this path with you. It doesn’t work”. Come on Cal!

“You said give me the evidence, I’m willing to give you the evidence. If you’re a scientist you should address the evidence. Yale University is well respected around the world. Harvey Risch PhD, professor of epidemiology at Yale, says this … evidence of the benefit of HCQ used in high risk outpatients is extremely strong”. Except that Dr Risch’s article was an opinion piece and was later strongly criticised by his colleagues.

One of Robinson’s adoring Twitter followers swallowed his argument whole, responding “Isn’t Yale a tad bit better than…. Reading…?” to which Robinson replied “I think that's why he got so upset”. No, he didn’t get upset, merely exasperated at someone pushing wacko and easily debunked nonsense. And, as to Ivermectin, well, it gets worse.

This is what the US Food and Drug Administration has said about Ivermectin: “There seems to be a growing interest in a drug called ivermectin to treat humans with COVID-19. Ivermectin is often used in the U.S. to treat or prevent parasites in animals. The FDA has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses”.

The use of Ivermectin was pushed by hosts on Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse). And Calvin Robinson has now shown that GB News, far from eschewing wacko conspiracy theories, has gone down the same rabbit hole. Will Ofcom now act?

And what about all those advertisers? Who wants to be associated with that idiocy?

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