Alan Jones’ new online show crashes minutes into premiere
Alan Jones' newest venture, an online show called Direct to the People, premiered on Monday night, although not without a few technical hiccups.
Jones revealed just last week that he had signed with Australian Digital Holdings to produce a digital TV show, describing it as the “tomorrow of media”. The news came just over a month after his final show on Sky News aired following the network’s decision to not renew his contract.
For his return to the screen, Jones was set to interview NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Unfortunately, just minutes into the 8 pm premiere, Jones’ website went down, and the video feed crashed on all platforms. Blaming excessive traffic, producers rescheduled for 8.30pm, at which point the show resumed. Producers have claimed there were “hundreds of thousands” of people attempting to tune in, which is what caused the crash. At the time the stream went down, there were 1322 viewers on YouTube and over 1600 likes on the video on Facebook.
During their interview, Jones congratulated Perrottet for his commitment to “freedom of speech”, saying, We’ve lost the quintessential Australian characteristics of optimism, fun...offering one’s own opinion without the fear of being cancelled.”
Jones also criticised lockdowns and mask mandates, which he argued had more of a negative impact than COVID-19 itself. Perrottet stated that decisions made by himself and his government had not always been the right ones, while acknowledging that Australia has continued to enjoy the benefits of comparatively low case numbers, adding that with vaccination rates increasing, it made sense to relax restrictions.
The Premier said, “There are still so many commentators, politicians and members of the public who would still prefer us to be locked down in circumstances where there is no need. My focus is not on the case numbers, it’s on the ICU and hospital presentations. Coming out every day and saying ‘here are the case numbers’ can instil fear in the community.”
Queensland Senator Matt Canavan also made an appearance on the program, discussing his push to increase Australia’s domestic manufacturing capabilities and to implement nuclear energy.
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