Alan Jones’ highly anticipated Facebook show crashes out

Alan Jones’ return to television had less than a stellar start Monday night after the live stream crashed minutes before the program was due to air.

Viewers were left in the dark as Jones’ new program, Alan Jones: Direct to the People went dark with producers blaming excessive demand, despite just over 1200 people joining the live stream at the time the stream ceased.

The outage caused an uproar among viewers who claimed the controversial broadcaster was being censored by Facebook. Jones later announced via his Facebook page his team had fixed the issue sooner than expected and viewers could watch the full program online.

Before the broadcast cut out, Jones vowed to speak the truth, telling viewers “they won’t silence you or me”.

“We are in critical times believe me. We’ve become a nation of one idea,” he said.

“There’s no debate, you’re not allowed to have an alternative viewpoint from the one fed by establishment forces.

“Politicians who never read a book in their lives are dictating to us and are trying to silence anyone who disagrees with them.”

Jones’ inaugural guests were New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet and Queensland Senator Matt Canavan.

Jones announced his triumphant return to broadcast news on Friday, December 10 during a press conference at Sydney’s Hilton Hotel, ominously telling reporters, “I will be everywhere – you won’t be able to escape me”.

After signing with Australian Digital Holdings for the “pioneer” show, Jones said the programme will “give the voiceless a voice” and will be streamed across Facebook, YouTube, and other popular streaming platforms.

While signing the broadcast deal, Jones also voiced his disapproval of cancel culture calling it “the biggest issue facing this country”.

“The first programme will address the issue of freedom,” he said. “Australia is not the Australia we want it to be. There is no debate. There have to be powerful voices, determined to try and turn this around, to make people feel comfortable, to not be intimidated, to feel free.”

Jones chose to make the move to online because “the reach on the Facebook is far in excess of anything available to traditional media”.

“If I say something about Biden or Trump it will get millions and millions of views and it will be international. You can’t get that with traditional media,” he said. “The numbers are enormous, and they’re there and they deserve to be serviced. They deserve to have a product with which they can identify and about which they are keen to hear and learn.”