The gaffe is the latest in a string of controversies for Channel 4 News which has seen the show accused of anti-Tory bias. Nadine Dorries, when culture secretary, announced she wanted the broadcaster to be privatised, noting that its flagship news program had done it “no favours”. Addressing MPs earlier this year, she referred to eyewitness reports that Jon Snow, the former presenter, allegedly shouted “F— the Tories” at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival. Ms Dorries said in May: “I have been on Channel 4 News many times. He is nervous. I’m not going to justify a news show whose anchor came out shouting obscenities about the Conservative Party. “So sometimes they didn’t do themselves any favors on the news program, and I think that’s probably about as much as I want to say about it.”
The future of Channel 4
The broadcaster has been publicly owned since its creation in 1982 by the Thatcher government and is entirely funded by advertising. Michelle Donelan, the current culture minister, departed from her predecessor by launching a review of the “business case” around the decision. Its move is seen as a retreat from privatisation. Ms Dorris argued the broadcaster would struggle to survive in the era of state-owned streaming.
