Channel 4 Announces Fake News Week

19 January 2017

Channel 4 will examine ‘Fake News’ in a week-long season of programming this February that gives an insight into the post-truth world. From the fakers peddling fiction as fact to professional blaggers stealing the headlines – it’s never been easier to make or make up the news. In a world where truth is compromised by popularity, determined by clicks, likes and shares, is anyone telling it like it is?

After investigating last year the burgeoning cottage industry producing fake online news, Channel 4 News will explore where fake news comes from and its implications in a number of reports, interviews and discussions, working with its award-winning Fact Check team. The team, founded in 2005, has broadened its remit from checking the claims of those in power to also debunk false claims widely disseminated via social media. It will be hosting an interactive Q&A on the subject on Facebook Live during Fake News Week.

Exposing the darks arts of one of the UK’s most notorious paparazzi photographers, Confessions of a Paparazzo (w/t) is a candid and entertaining insight into the world of celebrity paparazzo and master of deception, George Bamby. The documentary reveals how far George and his apprentice Bilko will go to get lucrative snaps of celebrities and how some photographs printed in national newspapers and magazines are not always quite what they seem.

Comedian and infamous hoaxer Simon Brodkin made headlines around the world showering Sepp Blatter in banknotes and storming Kanye West’s stage at Glastonbury. In 2016 Channel 4 gained exclusive access to the comic for a unique documentary Britain’s Greatest Hoaxer that lifts the lid on the months of meticulous planning and preparation it takes to pull off a headline-grabbing stunt as Brodkin sets his sights on three of the world’s most notorious and newsworthy figures: Simon Cowell, Sir Philip Green and President-elect of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

A panel of some of the sharpest and funniest minds will dissect some of the outlandish headlines, dodgy photo-shops and all-too-believable viral clips in a one-off comedy panel show, The Fake News Show (w/t).

Fake News Week will be broadcast on Channel 4 and available on All 4 in early February.

 

Confessions of a Paparazzo (w/t)

Britain’s ever increasing obsession with celebrity has created a twilight world where nothing is quite as it seems. With huge rewards for the right photo, celebrities and the paparazzi indulge in a bizarre game of hide and seek where the lines between fact and fiction are often blurred. Agreeing to reveal some of the dark arts of this world is one of the paparazzi’s most controversial figures, George Bamby who is aided by his young apprentice photographer Bilko.

For freelance paparazzi photographer George, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time. This documentary shows him and his stooge in hot pursuit of Britney Spears, Little Mix, Wayne Rooney, Dawn French, Katie Hopkins and Judge Rinder. George also shares some of his more colourful anecdotes that may help explain why many celebrities view him with such disdain.

George estimates he sells over 500 photographs a year to news organisations and magazines around the world, but in getting the photos is he staying the right side of the legal line? To get those photos, George has become a master of deception, distraction and disguise entering an area where public interest, morality and privacy laws collide. This is the life of the paparazzi laid bare, in all its shocking, seedy and often hilarious detail. In addition to the 1x60 documentary on Channel 4, a series of new and exclusive shorts will be available on All 4 where George shares some of his most outrageous stories, recounting run-ins with Tom Hardy, Mary Berry and even Princes William and Harry. Prod co: IWC Media.

C4 Press contact: Katherine Solomon

 

The Fake News Show (w/t)

Is a rocket launched into space by the Nazis in 1944 really about to hit the UK? Was a monkey in France really tasered after a chocolate-fuelled bender? Do Russia really have compromising videos of Donald Trump, or is someone just taking the pee?

This 1 x 30 comedy panel show will peer behind the wobbly façade of fake news, dissect the outlandish headlines, wild lies, dodgy Photo-shops and all-too-believable viral clips that have pushed post-truth to the front pages. Hosted by Stephen Mangan and with a veritable feast of some of the sharpest and funniest minds around, including Richard Osman, this is one night of hilarity not to be missed. Prod co: Hat Trick Productions

C4 Press contact: Lesley land

 

Britain’s Greatest Hoaxer

Comedian and infamous hoaxer Simon Brodkin made headlines around the world showering Sepp Blatter in banknotes and storming Kanye West’s stage at Glastonbury. In 2016, Channel 4 gained exclusive access to the comic as he set his sights on breaking the news once again, turning his target to three of the world’s most notorious figures: Simon Cowell, Sir Philip Green and the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump.

With tension, drama, disguise, false starts, arrests and near misses with the U.S. Secret Service, this unique documentary lifts the lid on the months of meticulous planning and preparation it takes to pull off a successful stunt, jumping on the news agenda, and reveals the extraordinary measures Simon takes as he uses the media’s thirst for a story to burst the bubble of some of the world’s richest and most famous people. Prod co: Avalon Television

C4 Press contact: Nick Walker

 

Contact:

Channel 4 Group PR Lead – Content and Programmes

Donna Mathews