🗽 As we approach the 250th anniversary of America declaring its independence from Britain, we have come full circle.

In commercial media terms at least, the UK is now a colony of the US.

I’ve used the latest AA/WARC figures to work out how much of the UK’s £46bn adspend goes to three US tech giants.

The answer is astonishing. My best estimate is that two thirds of everything spent on advertising in the UK - £31bn - goes to Google, Meta and Amazon (in that order).

Meanwhile, news publishing (the thing that underpins democracy) is being squeezed further and further out of the picture.

All advertising on magazines and newspapers (in print and online) was worth £1.6bn in 2025. Back in 2007 (before the financial crash) advertising that supported professional journalism was worth £7bn a year in the UK.

To some extent Google and Meta simply offer a better service to advertisers. But they also have monopolies over search and social that would not be tolerated in any other aspect of the UK economy (let alone one as vital to society as information).

These figures underline the desperate need for better regulation of these tech giants under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act, and the urgent need for publishers to find alternative revenue streams in the meantime.

READ THE FULL STORY

🚨 At Meta around 10% of the £6.5bn a year spent with it on advertising in the UK is fraudulent.

So it makes at least £650m a year in the UK alone from criminals who steal people’s identities to con trusting consumers out of their savings.

The most hijacked person for use in these scam ads is Martin Lewis, who is also probably the UK’s most trusted journalist.

Press Gazette asked him yesterday whether Meta has raised its game since he sued them for defamation in 2018. No, he said, the issue is worse than ever.

And this underlines the competitive disadvantage that has enabled Google and Meta to grow to monstrous proportions in the UK – undermining democracy and providing a helping hand to criminals on the way.

Publishers have to check everything they present and are liable for it (ads and content). Google, Meta and others are protected by the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 in the UK and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the US.

This means they are no more liable for most illegal content than, say, the companies that maintain the telecoms cables.

The Online Safety Act makes tech platforms responsible for curbing the most dangerous content. But enforcement by Ofcom is clearly not working.

We spoke to Martin Lewis as he was announced a recipient of a special award from Bafta in London yesterday.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤔 We have an exclusive story about more strange goings-on at specialist LGBTQ+ publisher Pink News.

A series of glowing five-star reviews have been posted on the website Glassdoor praising Pink News. But there was something fishy about them.

Would any human write that a “con” of working somewhere was the fact the “fast-paced work environment fosters adaptability and quick decision-making”?

We have the full story here.

READ THE FULL STORY

🥲 And finally I am chuffed to report that Press Gazette has made the longlist for the 2026 Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism.

We have been recognised for our Reality Wars investigation into the epidemic of fake experts and AI-generated PR content which has plagued UK news media.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

A senior executive at PR company APCO told a contractor to “get rid of everything” after receiving a legal notice from News UK, whose journalists it had investigated, to preserve records, according to audio files. APCO said it "acted promptly to preserve documents". (Financial Times)

The former owners of The Telegraph, Aidan and Howard Barclay, have avoided bankruptcy after reaching an 11th-hour agreement for a repayment plan with HSBC over more than £140m in overdue debts. (The Guardian)

Google’s AI investment has helped parent company Alphabet reach profits of $62.6bn in its Q1 results - an 81% rise year on year - and $109.9bn in revenue (+22%). Ad revenue rose by 16% year on year - marking the fourth straight quarter of growth above 10%. (Euro News)

Reporters Without Borders says press freedom globally is at a 25-year low with over half of countries now in the "difficult" or "very serious" categories. The UK has risen two places to 18th despite "alarming attacks" on Iranian journalists, lawsuits, job cuts and low trust. (Reporters Without Borders)

Three family members face charges for allegedly assaulting a journalist, who writes for the late Charlie Kirk's non-profit organisation Turning Point USA, during a protest in Minnesota. (Associated Press)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Why Sky News is moving beyond ‘commoditised’ breaking news

Eyewitness journalism and analysis on Iran war have boosted online audience.

2) UK top 50 news websites: Oxford Mail grows fastest as most sites lose reach

Newsquest-owned title saw visitors increase by 183% to 3.4 million year on year and 136.4% month on month.

3) The Ankler ditches Substack to fly solo

B2B site for Hollywood switches to owned site and new subs platform Passport

4) News booms on Youtube: BBC goes top as leading publishers grow 16%

Ranking of all English-language publishers on Youtube with more than one million subscribers.

5) Australia to tax Meta if it doesn’t pay news publishers

News Bargaining Incentive to levy Google, Meta and Tiktok unless they sign commercial news deals.

📻Latest podcast

Less is more at The Times, Standard’s long decline and future of The Telegraph

Dominic Ponsford and Charlotte Tobitt discuss what led The Standard to where it is today, with just 16 staff left to create the weekly print title after a digital takeover by Independent Media.

They also cover why less is more at The Times, and the future of The Telegraph after almost three years in limbo as Axel Springer received government approval for the takeover.

Listen now

📺 Hot on the heels of our excellent new ranking of top news publishers on Youtube, Sky News executive editor Jonathan Levy has revealed how the channel’s new online video focus is starting to pay off.

Speaking to me at our recent Future of Media Trends event in London, he highlighted the popularity of Iran war coverage and why original reporting and analysis, rather than breaking news, is a priority for Sky.

“I think there’s a realisation that that’s becoming just a much more commoditised and competitive space. When a big story breaks I’ll get five, six, seven alerts at the same time. So we knew that we couldn’t rely on being primarily that.”

READ THE FULL STORY

📈 The latest top 50 ranking of UK news websites makes for happy reading at the Oxford Mail which is back in the list and also the fastest-growing title.

The Newsquest-owned daily newspaper is doing particularly well given it does not have coverage of a Premier League football team to help it (Oxford United are currently languishing near the bottom of the Championship).

Overall, more UK news websites are losing monthly reach than are gaining it. But a majority of sites are growing in terms of audience engagement (total minutes spent) which is an encouraging sign and probably a more useful metric.

One and done monthly drive-by readers boost vanity metrics but are no basis on which to build a sustainable news business.

READ THE FULL STORY

🎥 And big news from one of the most successful newsbrands on Substack – B2B entertainment industry title The Ankler.

It has left the newsletter-focused platform to go it alone as an owned and operated website.

Just ten years after launching as an email, The Ankler now has around 150,000 paying subscribers and some $10m in revenue.

Substack is an amazing incubator for new brands, and works brilliantly for small teams. But The Ankler appears to have outgrown it and now has its own website powered by new subscriptions technology.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

The Trump administration has described Australia’s moves to make tech giants pay for news online as “foreign extortion”. (The Guardian)

IAC chairman Barry Diller has announced that the company is merging into its subsidiary People Inc (which it will now be known as). The move will "significantly reduce" overheads. Neil Vogel is CEO of the new business. (PR Newswire)

Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut, a correspondent for Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, has been released from prison in Belarus after five years as part of a US-brokered multi-country swap deal. (Committee to Protect Journalists)

Google is testing an AI-powered search experience on Youtube, bringing conversational responses to queries. The Ask Youtube feature (in testing with US Premium users) generates answers like a full three-day road trip itinerary instead of listing videos. (Social Media Today)

DC Thomson will produce the Beano end-to-end in-house for the first time in more than 16 years as it returns to its Dundee print plant. DC Thomson has bought a sheetfed printing press to enable it to print the comic. (DC Thomson)

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered a fast-tracked review of ABC's local station broadcast licences over potential "unlawful discrimination" related to the network's diversity policies. The review follows President Trump condemning ABC for a joke made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. (Axios)

A survey conducted by the Media Insight Project of more than 2,000 US adults and teens found many get daily news from television or streaming services (46%), digital news sites (41%), or social media (37%). Nearly half (49%) never use print or digital newspapers as a news source. (American Press Institute)

👀In case you missed it:

1) News booms on Youtube: BBC goes top as leading publishers grow 16%

Ranking of all English-language publishers on Youtube with more than one million subscribers.

2) Australia to tax Meta if it doesn’t pay news publishers

News Bargaining Incentive to levy Google, Meta and Tiktok unless they sign commercial news deals.

3) Future of Media Awards 2026 open for entries with four new categories

Publisher of the year, media innovator and best use of AI to be recognised.

4) AI in journalism: Live tracker of scandals and mistakes

Round-up of the main cases where AI use in journalism has gone wrong.

5) Essex Police press statements were defamatory of Allison Pearson, judge says

Pearson suing over police press statements and commissioner’s LBC and Conservative Home appearances.

📻Latest podcast

Less is more at The Times, Standard’s long decline and future of The Telegraph

Dominic Ponsford and Charlotte Tobitt discuss what led The Standard to where it is today, with just 16 staff left to create the weekly print title after a digital takeover by Independent Media.

They also cover why less is more at The Times, and the future of The Telegraph after almost three years in limbo as Axel Springer received government approval for the takeover.

Listen now

📺 News is booming on Youtube.

According to a new Press Gazette ranking listing 118 English-language publisher Youtube channels with more one million subscribers, the average rate of subscriber growth is 16%. News influencers are growing subscribers even faster.

This means Youtube may be the fastest-growing major platform for news consumption (in contrast with publisher websites, which are mostly losing traffic in the UK and US).

Youtube is helped of course by the fact it is owned by Google and so gets preferential treatment in search and on Discover.

Our in-depth report on the burgeoning world of news on Youtube includes:

- Publishers ranked by total subscribers, year-on-year change and views since launch

- A similar ranking for leading news influencers

- Details of the publishers whose videos gain the most views

- A ranking of the most prolific news publishers on Youtube

If your job requires you to know about video and journalism this piece is a must-read and, dare I say it, well worth the price of a Press Gazette subscription (£9.99 per month or £99 per year).

READ THE FULL STORY

🐨 Fair dinkum. It feels like the net is slowly closing in on giant tech platforms, which have ridden roughshod over news publishers for years.

In the US, legal actions look set to cost the likes of Meta and Youtube billions because they cynically targeted children with harmful and addictive content. And Australia has just ramped up its efforts to force Meta to pay licensing fees to news publishers for use of their content on its platforms.

Meta dodged Australia’s previous effort, the News Bargaining Code, by closing down its news tab.

Now Australian legislators have launched a tougher scheme called the News Bargaining Incentive, which would force the likes of Google, Meta and Tiktok to hand over 2.25% of their local revenue if they don’t enter voluntary deals with publishers.

In the UK, Google and Meta alone make at least £26bn a year meaning such a levy would be worth £650m to our news industry. It is nothing compared to the billions these two companies have taken from publishers in terms of advertising market share and would be a small price to pay in order for them to continue to enjoy the considerable fruits of their respective monopolies.

READ THE FULL STORY

🏆 And the Press Gazette Future of Media Awards is open for entries!

Now in its fifth year, this event recognises the best journalism-based websites, newsletters, podcasts, apps and examples of online video.

There are also categories for commercial brilliance and for innovation which helps make online journalism more sustainable.

This year there are four new categories: Best Use of AI, News Industry Technology Partner of the Year, Media Innovator of the Year and Publisher of the Year.

Full details here (the deadline for entries is 18 June).

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

Executives at Politico and parent company Axel Springer held a meeting with journalists yesterday to address a staff letter over whether the CEO’s political views could influence Politico’s newsroom coverage. (Semafor)

CNN has said it is “meeting and beating” its subscriber targets a year and a half after the launch of its paywall. (A Media Operator)

The Observer has appointed WPP Media’s Mindshare as its media agency to handle advertising strategy, planning and buying across the UK. The focus is on promoting subscriber growth and "nurturing long-term brand growth".

Ladbible has announced Kerri-Ann Roper, formerly head of entertainment, features and real life at PA, as its new head of editorial. She will lead editorial direction, content development and newsroom operations based in Manchester and report to Jo-Anne Rowney, director of editorial.

All-you-can-read app Cafeyn has added The Washington Post to its publisher catalogue to "bring their reporting to new audiences", following its acquisition of Readly's non-Nordic operations. The group plans to further expand internationally.

👀In case you missed it:

1) AI in journalism: Live tracker of scandals and mistakes

Round-up of the main cases where AI use in journalism has gone wrong.

2) Essex Police press statements were defamatory of Allison Pearson, judge says

Pearson suing over police press statements and commissioner’s LBC and Conservative Home appearances.

3) Press flak jackets have become targets in war zones warns Christina Lamb

Lamb calls for independent body to investigate crimes against journalists.

4) Winning design unveiled for first UK journalists’ memorial

Design revealed for On the Record installation being created for National Memorial Arboretum.

5) AI content marketplaces can’t come soon enough for news publishers

Five key challenges facing news publishers were debated at Press Gazette Future of Media Trends event.

📻Latest podcast

Less is more at The Times, Standard’s long decline and future of The Telegraph

Dominic Ponsford and Charlotte Tobitt discuss what led The Standard to where it is today, with just 16 staff left to create the weekly print title after a digital takeover by Independent Media.

They also cover why less is more at The Times, and the future of The Telegraph after almost three years in limbo as Axel Springer received government approval for the takeover.

Listen now

🤖 There’s no doubt that AI makes you more productive. But journalists using LLMs also walk a high wire where one wobble could see them fall to reputation-ending doom. This is because the nature of generative AI, and its propensity to make mistakes and invent facts, makes it particularly flawed when it comes to creating journalism.

Charlotte Tobitt has started a tracker chronicling the biggest AI-induced scandals and slip ups we have seen so far in journalism.

(It’s worth noting that bad humans abusing AI for nefarious means are often at the heart of these cautionary tales.)

READ THE FULL STORY

⚖️ Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson has been cleared to take Essex Police to trial over statements issued after she was questioned about a post shared on X.

Hopefully this will strike a blow against the recent unwelcome development of criminal complaints being abused to target journalists sharing content on social media.

In a similar case, former Telegraph journalist Greg Hadfield is facing a criminal trial because he drew attention to a pornographic message shared by former Labour MP Ivor Caplin on X.

READ THE FULL STORY

🪖 The killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil last week underlines a troubling truth. For certain regimes, journalists who step outside arbitrary red lines in conflict zones are under a sentence of death.

Sadly democracies America and Israel are among these rogue states as well as Russia, as we have seen in Ukraine.

In 2003, the US military killed ITN’s Terry Lloyd in Iraq despite the fact he was in a clearly marked press vehicle.

This set the tone for a new era where, as Christina Lamb of The Sunday Times said last week, press markings have become targets in conflict zones.

Khalil was sheltering from an earlier attack when she was killed despite pleas from the Lebanese president and the British Red Cross to allow rescuers to help her.

Lamb has called for an independent task force to be set up to investigate the killings of journalists, ending the current culture of impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes.

No one has ever been held to account for the dozens of journalists deliberately killed by Israel, the US and other states since 2003.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

Gabriel Pogrund has been named editor of Sunday Times investigations team Insight. The expanded team also has two investigative correspondents and a deputy editor to come. (Press Gazette)

This week’s Foresight News diary includes the Royal visit to the US, the release of The Devil Wears Prada 2, and World Press Freedom Day. (Press Gazette)

Tech and newsletter platform Beehiiv has added webinar and functionality for up to 10,000 attendees plus metered paywalls and paid subscriptions trials. (Beehiiv)

Former Channel 5 News presenter Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije has reached a "mutual agreement" with the broadcaster and ITN ahead of an employment tribunal and withdrawn allegations made against her co-host Dan Walker. (BBC)

GB News is now available in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh via a distribution deal with the NeoTV+ app. (GB News)

The National Union of Journalists says it has reached an agreement with ITN on pay rises, with an average increase of 3.5%. (NUJ)

Editorial staff at Mediahuis Ireland titles including the Irish Independent and Belfast Telegraph have voted in favour of new terms and conditions including increased paternity and bereavement leave. (NUJ)

Piers Morgan‘s digital media company Uncensored has partnered with Time Studios to co-produce and distribute an ongoing long-form interview series hosted by Morgan from this summer. (Deadline)

IPSO has published another ruling against the Express website relating to government economic policy. The regulator says “Rachel Reeves plotting major ‘pensions tax raid’ in huge blow to older Brits” did not distinguish the 'plotting' as the speculation of one economist. (IPSO)

Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith and his family holding company have completed their acquisition of 26.9% shareholding in The Economist Group from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild. Terms were not disclosed but the FT has reported Smith paid around £300m. (The Economist Group)

Danny Sullivan, a director within Google Search, told publishers how to define non-commodity content in three ways: being unique, specific and authentic. (Search Engine Roundtable)

A journalism course tackling harmful narratives around homelessness is expanding to Edinburgh and Dundee in late 2026. Launched in 2025, Glasgow’s Changing the Narrative Academy is run by a Big Issue non-profit spin off. (Hold the Front Page)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Winning design unveiled for first UK journalists’ memorial

Design revealed for On the Record installation being created for National Memorial Arboretum.

2) AI content marketplaces can’t come soon enough for news publishers

Five key challenges facing news publishers were debated at Press Gazette Future of Media Trends event.

3) STV journalists to strike over salary freeze as broadcaster profits drop

Revenue fell 6% to £176.9m in in full-year results for 2025.

4) UK publishers urge CMA to curb Google as search giant claims AI does them no harm

‘Fine-tuning’ one of several requests as CMA to give Google new conduct rules.

5) Readly deluged with user complaints post Cafeyn merger

Readly-Cafeyn merger means app no longer carried by Amazon and Huawei devices.

📻Latest podcast

Less is more at The Times, Standard’s long decline and future of The Telegraph

Dominic Ponsford and Charlotte Tobitt discuss what led The Standard to where it is today, with just 16 staff left to create the weekly print title after a digital takeover by Independent Media.

They also cover why less is more at The Times, and the future of The Telegraph after almost three years in limbo as Axel Springer received government approval for the takeover.

Listen now

🪖 Press Gazette has been proud to support the campaign to create a memorial for UK journalists killed in conflict since its launch.

Last night the winning design for the memorial, which will be built at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire with a companion piece at St Bride’s in London, was revealed at Bloomberg HQ.

It ties into old-school journalism, incorporating symbols “###” and “-30-”.

The launch was supported by foreign office minister Chris Elmore who said: “This memorial will stand as a place for reflection and recognition, a visible reminder of what it costs to bring truth into the light and of the debt we owe to those who never came home…”

So far £300,000 has been raised but another £700,000 is still needed. Can you help?

READ THE FULL STORY

🌟 Yesterday Press Gazette convened media leaders for our latest roundtable event, grappling with five key challenges.

Dominic Ponsford, still glowing from managing to shoehorn an Arnold Schwarzenegger mantra into his words to the room, has rounded up our big takeaways.

Unfortunately we can’t give you a silver bullet solution. But we can share what other publishers are thinking and a few noteworthy success stories.

One theme was that publishers are chomping at the bit to start being rewarded for the value their work brings many other companies. Currently the scraping economy misses us out of the value exchange almost entirely.

Could AI content marketplaces be the solution? The demand is clearly there, as proven by the scale of unsanctioned crawling.

READ THE FULL STORY

📽️ And finally, journalists at STV have decided to strike for the second time this year after the Scottish broadcaster confirmed they’re not getting a base salary rise.

STV revealed profits and revenue are down as it was hit especially hard by a tough advertising market last year.

But the NUJ said staff are already “overworked and underpaid” and they should be rewarded with “real actions” not just words of appreciation.

The one-day strike has been deliberately chosen to coincide with the counting of the results in the upcoming Holyrood elections.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

Substack says almost 100,000 publishers are now earning money on the platform globally (doubled in under 18 months) including nearly 30,000 outside the US. Creators in Europe are earning £65m/$90m+ a year. Substack has now introduced new translation features. (On Substack)

The Alliance for Audited Media in the US has made an ethical AI certification available to all its member publishers. It evaluates them across factors like transparency, governance, bias and fairness and privacy to signal responsible use to readers and advertisers. (AAM)

Bristol Live has become the 11th Reach website to launch a premium paywall today. (Bristol Live)

Lebanon has accused Israel of war crimes after air strikes killed one journalist and wounded another yesterday. Amal Khalil, who worked for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, was killed and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj was injured. (BBC)

Ladbible publisher LBG Media says revenue in the six months to 31 March was up 19% year on year to £52.4m driven by content made for brands, with less reliance on website display advertising and Facebook. (LBG Media)

Journalists at Czech Television and Czech Radio are preparing to strike over planned Government reforms of the state broadcasters' funding, including scrapping a licence fee. (The Straits Times)

Subtext, an SMS platform used by publishers, has added new features including audience groups (to get rid of ad-hoc segmentation), audience imports (to give more control over uploading subscriber lists) and A/B testing. (Martech Series)

The World Press Photo of the Year finalists for 2026 have been announced. The winning picture, Separated by ICE by photojournalist Carol Guzy, depicts daughters clinging to their father as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain him. (World Press Photo)

👀In case you missed it:

1) UK publishers urge CMA to curb Google as search giant claims AI does them no harm

‘Fine-tuning’ one of several requests as CMA to give Google new conduct rules.

2) Readly deluged with user complaints post Cafeyn merger

Readly-Cafeyn merger means app no longer carried by Amazon and Huawei devices.

3) Judges body hits journalist with £14k costs bill for pursuing FOI request

Barnie Choudhury wrote 23 articles in his campaign against judicial secrecy.

4) Food newsletter launches with eight staff and tech-style incentives

Co-founders of Puck have $2.5m funding for food newsbrand Caper.

5) Sky News moves into paid online content with planned launch of defence app

Paid podcast is also in offing as broadcaster seeks financial sustainability.

📻Latest podcast

Less is more at The Times, Standard’s long decline and future of The Telegraph

Dominic Ponsford and Charlotte Tobitt discuss what led The Standard to where it is today, with just 16 staff left to create the weekly print title after a digital takeover by Independent Media.

They also cover why less is more at The Times, and the future of The Telegraph after almost three years in limbo as Axel Springer received Government approval for the takeover.

Listen now

🤥 Thousands of journalists are losing their jobs in the US and UK with publishers directly blaming falling referral traffic from Google.

The latest example is magazine giant Bauer, which specifically pointed the finger at AI-written summaries stealing clicks from publishers as it announced major cutbacks on its publishing teams.

Yet Google has told the UK Competition and Markets Authority that there is “no realistic prospect of harm to publishers in respect of training/fine-tuning of AI models for search and search generative AI features”.

It’s like the giant anaconda that has just eaten a goat issuing assurances that its lunch will be absolutely fine.

In submissions to the CMA, publishers have voiced specific alarm over “fine-tuning” queries that crawl publisher websites to improve AI answers in real time without providing the citations and possible licensing/payment opportunities offered by RAG (retrieval augmented generation) answers.

READ THE FULL STORY

⛓️‍💥The merger of all-you-can-read apps Cafeyn and Readly offers the prospect of a step forward on the path to building a widely-used Spotify-style model for magazines (and some decent competition for Apple News+).

But the rollout of a new combined app has left many longstanding Readly users fuming.

They’ve lost use of puzzles through magazines, their personalisation data and in some cases access altogether. And some complain that there is no way to cancel or request a refund.

We found out what has gone wrong and what Readly has to say about it.

READ THE FULL STORY

🚀 And Press Gazette’s sponsor Q5 has produced a new guide explaining how publishers can attract and retain high value audiences.

Great journalism and content is obviously an essential part of the mix. But what about the product and commercial teams?

How do you make sure that everyone has enough autonomy to feel empowered while also rowing in the right direction to take the business where it needs to go?

Read the quick version of this here.

Or access their full white paper report here.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏 News In Brief

Wired has hired ex-Mill Media editor and longtime Guardian journalist Rosie Swash as deputy editor in London. Executive editor Brian Barrett said Swash will "make sure we're both on top of breaking news in the UK time zone and elevating and investing in our editorial presence in the region more broadly".

Read more on Wired’s plans for a revamped UK team.

The Sun has merged its features desk and Fabulous team into one 21-staff department “to better serve our readers across every platform”. The new team will write and commission content for both print and online. (Linkedin)

Sky News has announced The Cathy Newman Show will launch on TV and Youtube on Monday at 7pm, promising political journalism and investigations with “a less formal, less buttoned-up, less confrontational tone than other evening offerings”. A podcast will launch in the autumn.

Bloomberg Media has launched a global marketing campaign 'Get the Money Side of the Story' emphasising its strength for business coverage with slogans like "while others follow the noise, we follow the money". (Youtube)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Judges body hits journalist with £14k costs bill for pursuing FOI request

Barnie Choudhury wrote 23 articles in his campaign against judicial secrecy.

2) Food newsletter launches with eight staff and tech-style incentives

Co-founders of Puck have $2.5m funding for food newsbrand Caper.

3) Sky News moves into paid online content with planned launch of defence app

Paid podcast is also in offing as broadcaster seeks financial sustainability.

4) Standard website transfers to Independent with more than 30 staff leaving

Press Gazette understands 23 Standard editorial staff transferring across.

5) Bauer unveils major digital restructure hitting jobs in Germany and UK

Germany subsidiary of digital publishing arm to shut down with 160 affected.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

This newsletter is brought to you in association with WordPress VIP — the enterprise CMS built for the decade ahead, not the next contract cycle. Their new free diagnostic tool, Is Your CMS Built to Last?, is available to download now.

🚨 For all its shortcomings, the UK’s Freedom of Information Act is at least free. Until now.

Journalist Barnie Choudhury has been hit with an outrageous £14,270 costs order for having the temerity to take legal action forcing the Judicial Appointments Commission to comply with an FOI request.

It is the first time I have ever heard of an official body targeting a journalist in this way for doing their duty and seeking the disclosure of information in the public interest.

The UK state should be doing all it can to encourage investigators like Choudhury who are doing their bit to keep society honest and hold those who carelessly and secretly wield power without oversight to account.

If this costs order is allowed to stand, the chilling effect will be immeasurable because the sort of journalism Choudhury does is economically marginal at the best of times.

It is another example of the urgent need for legislation to protect public interest journalism from legal intimidation.

READ THE FULL STORY

🫒 We’ve spoken to one of the founders of Caper, a thrice-weekly food newsletter that has had serious investment.

The New York-based title has adopted a playbook that is proving increasingly effective as business models for journalism adjust to a world where having a deeply engaged audience is far more important than having a large one.

It’s pursuing paid subscriptions, targeting a particular niche where it can add real value, investing in heavy-hitting newsroom experts and rapidly expanding into events as a way to bring in early revenue.

The newsletter model (powered by Beehiiv) allows Caper to own its audience and have a direct relationship without need for reliance on fickle friends like Facebook and Google.

READ THE FULL STORY

🪖 Sky News is also investing in niche content as a way to find its first online subscriptions revenue.

We spoke to the executive director of business operations at the channel, Andy Thomson, about why it is launching a paid-for app covering the world of defence.

Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes told The Sunday Times at the weekend that he has not been given a target for when the loss-making channel needs to turn a profit.

But the fact remains that from 2028, owner Comcast is no longer committed to funding the channel at the current rate of £100m a year. After that time, profitability is going to become its best safeguard against possible cutbacks.

READ THE FULL STORY

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🤏 News In Brief

The Daily Mail has migrated its .co.uk domain to one global URL: dailymail.com. The publisher said the change reflects its "ambition to serve a global audience from a single digital destination" and give it "even greater visibility with advertisers and partners" particularly in the US.

FBI director Kash Patel has formally filed a $250m defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic which reported allegations of excessive drinking and absences from work. The Atlantic said it will "vigorously defend" itself "against this meritless lawsuit". (BBC)

The Onion has revealed its relaunch of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ outlet Infowars as a satirical site, but the deal still requires court approval. (The Independent)

Rochdale Times has surpassed 100,000 monthly readers and over 400,000 monthly page views one year after launching following the closure of Rochdale Online. (Rochdale Times)

Axios is launching two new local brands in Colorado funded by its partnership with OpenAI. (Axios)

Apple has named its head of hardware engineering John Ternus as chief executive, replacing Tim Cook who is stepping down after 15 years leading the tech giant. (BBC)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Standard website transfers to Independent with more than 30 staff leaving

Press Gazette understands 23 Standard editorial staff transferring across.

2) Bauer unveils major digital restructure hitting jobs in Germany and UK

Germany subsidiary of digital publishing arm to shut down with 160 affected.

3) How one company built £14m business by buying up niche B2B titles

Datateam has 70 titles and launches new events while reducing print costs.

4) Apple News revenue helped BBC Science Focus double size of team

All-you-can-read mags subscriptions are delivering serious revenue to science title.

5) Forbes expands into retail with Wine Club launch

Wine seen as opportunity to build community in move away from scale.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

Press Gazette’s spring conference for media leaders discussing revenue trends for the year ahead takes place on this Wednesday at South Place Hotel in London.

Speakers include: Sky News executive editor Jonathan Levy, director of generative AI at the BBC Peter Archer, Reach delivery director Karyn Fleeting and Guardian chief AI officer Caspar Llewellyn Smith.

The morning-long event includes a networking breakfast, lunch and three break-out discussion sessions where publishers can thrash out solutions to our industry’s most pressing revenue challenges in a safe space!

A handful of free delegate places are still available, but only if you work in a leadership position at a news publisher. Apply for your place here.

😢 The Evening Standard had 346 staff when Alexander Lebedev bought it for £1 in 2009. Sixteen now remain at the newspaper.

A further 23 have transferred to Independent Media which will now produce the Standard website.

Taking a glass-half-full approach, it is impressive that Alexander’s son Evgeny has kept the Standard going for so long. Over his years of ownership the already loss-making title has shed a further £150m.

Today The Standard newspaper continues as a free weekly newsprint magazine, heavy on lifestyle and cultural content but not really covering hard news.

Some 36 staff have left the business during this decoupling of print and web operations, including specialist reporters covering crime, transport and London-level politics.

READ THE FULL STORY

✂️ More sad news at the UK’s largest magazine publisher, Bauer Media Group, where up to 30% of publishing staff could be at risk of losing their jobs.

Citing the rise of AI answers and changing tech platform behaviour, Bauer said: “It has become increasingly challenging to operate digital publishing businesses profitably at scale.”

In its German homeland, Bauer is closing digital publishing business Xcel Media with the loss of 160 jobs.

We’ve approached Bauer for comment on reports that 30% of publishing staff are at risk overall, but the company has not confirmed this number.

Bauer sells nearly 100 million magazines a year in the UK with brands including TV Choice, Grazia, Empire, Heat, Closer and Car.

READ THE FULL STORY

☀️ In more positive news, we spoke to the media director of UK B2B magazine publisher Datateam which has quietly built up a £14m-a-year business by buying up niche titles that were often at risk of falling into loss.

Paul Ryder explained how his incredibly diverse portfolio, covering everything from casinos to school building, turns a profit without resorting to drastic cost cuts or asset stripping.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

BBC Northern Ireland has won an IPSO complaint against the Irish News over four articles that alleged staff had been “planted” in the audience of presenter Stephen Nolan’s TV show. (Press Gazette)

Sixteen unionised employees have reportedly been laid off at Conde Nast amid changes and closures including the closure of Self, a restructure at Glamour and winding down of its operations in Germany, Spain and Mexico, and the closure of Wired in Italy. (Press Gazette)

Single-digit job losses are expected across the Daily Mail TV and showbiz teams. (Press Gazette)

This week’s Foresight News diary includes the expiration of the US-Iran ceasefire, tube strikes, and the London Marathon. (Press Gazette)

Investigative journalism outlet Democracy for Sale is fighting FOI 'secrecy' around ministerial briefings about Palantir's £330m NHS contract with an appeal at the Information Tribunal. (Democracy for Sale)

FBI director Kash Patel said he will sue The Atlantic for defamation after a story about his alleged drinking habits and absences from work. The Atlantic said it stands by its reporting. (The Hill)

NOTUS, a Washington political news site created by Politico co-founder Robert Allbritton, is being relaunched as The Star in June and will start to cover local news and sports. It aims to double the newsroom from 45 people to 95 this year. (The New York Times)

Three people have been charged over an attempted arson attack at the offices of Persian language media organisation Volant Media in London. (BBC)

Judgment has been reserved in the non-jury trial of three men accused of murdering the journalist Lyra McKee in 2019. (BBC)

James Goode, formerly PA Media Group chief financial officer and executive editor, has been appointed chief financial officer of The Guardian. (The Guardian)

Daily Mail Australia reportedly broke an embargo by publishing Prince Harry and Meghan’s tour details five days early. The Sussexes’ media office complained, and the article was taken down. (The Guardian)

Dale Miller has been promoted from acting editor to editor of The Times and The Sunday Times in Scotland. He was formerly deputy editor of The Scotsman.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has said Getty must sell the editorial business of Shutterstock (including Backgrid and Splash) for the merger of the two businesses to be approved. (Financial Times)

NPR has received an $80m donation from philanthropist Connie Ballmer, the largest ever from a living donor. NPR also received an anonymous $33m donation. CEO Katherine Maher said these would put them on solid financial ground after federal funding was cut. (CBS News)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Apple News revenue helped BBC Science Focus double size of team

All-you-can-read mags subscriptions are delivering serious revenue to science title.

2) Forbes expands into retail with Wine Club launch

Wine seen as opportunity to build community in move away from scale.

3) AI answer engine drives more effective advertising at Reach and Independent

Taboola is offering an ad-funded AI chatbot to publishers.

4) Axel Springer given UK government approval for Telegraph takeover

Deal expected to complete in Q2 after three years of “damaging uncertainty”.

5) Google changes hit revenue at The Sun as losses grow to £53m

Prince Harry legal action prompted major hit to profits.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

Press Gazette’s spring conference for media leaders discussing revenue trends for the year ahead takes place on Wednesday, 22 April, at South Place Hotel in London.

Speakers include: Sky News executive editor Jonathan Levy, director of generative AI at the BBC Peter Archer, Reach delivery director Karyn Fleeting and Guardian chief AI officer Caspar Llewellyn Smith.

The morning-long event includes a networking breakfast, lunch and three break-out discussion sessions where publishers can thrash out solutions to our industry’s most pressing revenue challenges in a safe space!

A handful of free delegate places are available, but only if you work in a leadership position at a news publisher. Apply for your place here.

🍏 I’m a bit sceptical about all-you-can-read platform Apple News being the saviour of magazines.

The revenue per reader is tiny compared to direct-sold subscriptions and the revenue split is hardly generous. Apple keeps half of the £12.99 per month users pay for access to thousands of magazines, and most of the customer data.

But BBC Science Focus has proved that if you can smash it out of the park, Apple News can transform your business. We found out how the bundled subscription service has helped the specialist consumer title double the size of its editorial team over the last few years.

READ THE FULL STORY

🍷 Business and leadership title Forbes has launched a major foray into direct retail with a new wine club.

The move comes after its affiliate marketing business was torpedoed by Google changes, which made it harder for publishers to make commission on links to external retailers, and also more than decimated its overall traffic.

Forbes SVP of consumer revenue and growth Emily Jackson explained how the new strategy is all about creating a proper engaged online community backed by significant editorial investment.

It will cost members $249 per quarter (£183) to receive 12 hand-picked bottles of vino. It is not yet available in the UK, so I will be sticking to Aldi for now.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤖 Charlotte Tobitt has spoken to the CEO of Taboola Adam Singolda about how its free AI answer engine for publishers, Deeper Dive, has transformed engagement with the adverts it sells.

Most will know Taboola for the awful suggested stories boxes it provides for publishers with links to clickbait made-for-advertising sites, offering articles like “world’s biggest hole discovered”. I’ve fallen down a few of those rabbit holes myself.

Deeper Dive actually seems to be a service which adds value to publisher websites and uses AI in a way that fairly rewards them.

Singolda said he wants to overtake Perplexity in terms of popularity “very soon”. Fair play to him because Deeper Dive is sharing revenue with publishers on transparent terms whereas Perplexity is just stealing stuff.

READ THE FULL STORY

🪓 Tough news for staff at the BBC where the biggest job cuts in 15 years will see up to 2,000 people leave the corporation.

The BBC licence fee increased from £174.50 to £180 per year on 1 April but the number of households paying has reduced. With the current charter coming up for renewal on 31 December 2027 the BBC’s funding arrangements are looking increasingly anachronistic.

Last year the BBC’s total commercial and licence fee income increased by 9% to £5.9bn so it is hardly on its uppers. These cuts will be as much about freeing up money for investment in new areas as they are about keeping the lights on.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz is stepping down in October after almost nine years - the longest serving in the role in the channel's history. Katz said he is proud of the team for "pioneering the evolution of a commercial public service broadcaster into a digital streaming business".

Sayso app from Caliber, the parent company of The News Movement, has 30 creators signed up at the moment with 100 planned by the end of the year. It is not yet monetising but will eventually have a freemium model with users paying for additional features. (Adweek)

The Guardian has signed a deal for its digital advertising inventory to be accessed directly through Yahoo DSP, initially in the UK with expansion to the US and Australia to follow.

The Wall Street Journal and parent company Dow Jones have launched a new sports vertical with a live event to cover the "business of sports" and target decision-makers. (Axios)

Members of Writers Guild of America East at CBS News 24/7 have ratified a three-year deal with pay rises and AI safeguards, including notice of AI use and right to decline bylines where AI is used. (Deadline)

US state Maryland has passed a law requiring Government state agencies to spend at least 50% of advertising budgets with local news outlets. (News/Media Alliance)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Axel Springer given UK government approval for Telegraph takeover

Deal expected to complete in Q2 after three years of “damaging uncertainty”.

2) Google changes hit revenue at The Sun as losses grow to £53m

Prince Harry legal action prompted major hit to profits.

3) Mark Allen Group posts pre-tax loss and writes off £5m from Bonhill purchase

Company doesn’t expect profit growth to return until 2027.

4) WSJ legal victory over Trump means his $10bn BBC lawsuit likely to fail

Florida court upholds principle that US libel claimants must prove malice.

5) Politico says merger of energy teams has boosted Iran war coverage

Politico now has 73 reporters covering energy and environment.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

😮‍💨 There was relief in the Telegraph newsroom yesterday as Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy nodded through Axel Springer’s £575m takeover.

The UK has a new billionaire media owner in the form of Mathias Döpfner who looks like an improvement on previous Telegraph proprietors (although the bar was set pretty low).

He’s a journalist by background, who climbed the greasy corporate poll to become the CEO of a global news and media giant. Döpfner has the ambition, vision and cash needed to run the next stage of The Telegraph’s digital transition.

Axel Springer sold its classified advertising business in 2024 in an £11.3bn deal so has a massive war chest to invest in Döpfner’s stated aim of becoming the “leading transatlantic media company for digital journalism and related business models”.

After being in a holding pattern for nearly three years, and wasting more than £31m on sale costs, The Telegraph can finally start moving forward.

READ THE FULL STORY

📉 The Sun is betting its digital future on video and paid online content.

The latest financial figures (for the year to the end of June 2025) explain why change is so urgent for the UK tabloid with revenue falling £23m year on year to just over £273m.

Structural decline in print is largely to blame for the fall in turnover. The Sun does not publish a print ABC figure anymore but I would estimate daily sales are now down to around the 500,000 mark (compared with 1.3 million at the turn of the decade).

The cost of arguing (and settling) some 41 legal claims over illegal newsgathering at The Sun was a major factor pushing News Group Newspapers into a £53.3m pre-tax loss.

The results also flagged concerns over declining referral traffic from unspecified tech platforms (for which, read Facebook and Google).

There was happier news from subscription-funded Times Media where digital growth outpaces print decline. Both revenue and profits were up for the year to June 2025.

READ THE FULL STORY

🏢 Meanwhile, the ambition of privately-owned B2B publishing stalwarts Mark Allen Group is undimmed despite a torrid set of financial results.

The group has set a target of reaching £100m turnover by 2029. But the “uncertain financial and economic climate” led to “far higher costs” and a £1.4m pre-tax loss for the year to March 2025.

Three years after paying £6.5m for Bonhill Group’s wealth management and financial services B2B brands, MAG has written off £5m of the purchase price.

At the time Mark Allen described the Bonhill titles as “fantastic brands” that gave the company a vital foothold in Singapore and Hong Kong. Bonhill has performed “very poorly” since then, according to MAG, and had a “heavy impact on profits”.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

ABC News will reportedly cut around a dozen staff amid layoffs of 1,000 people at its parent company Disney. (Press Gazette)

The non-profit parent organisation of The Baltimore Banner, The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, has agreed to acquire the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which was slated to shut down in May. (Nieman Lab)

The writer of Mediaite’s media newsletter One Sheet has been suspended after making a series of errors including fake quotes and information. He claimed these mistakes "originated in the data entry process" but admitted to using AI in "a limited way". (Semafor)

American-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is understood to have been detained by authorities in Kuwait after he commented on videos and images related to the US-Israeli war with Iran. (Committee to Protect Journalists)

Meta is projected to generate more advertising revenue than Google in 2026 for the first time, with the Instagram owner expected to reach $243.46bn ahead of the tech giant's projected $239.54bn. (Search Engine Land)

👀In case you missed it:

1) WSJ legal victory over Trump means his $10bn BBC lawsuit likely to fail

Florida court upholds principle that US libel claimants must prove malice.

2) Politico says merger of energy teams has boosted Iran war coverage

Politico now has 73 reporters covering energy and environment.

3) Publishers urged to embrace future where bot readers provide majority of revenue

Founders of bot monetisation platform Tollbit say AI future for news could be bright.

4) Banker Crispin Odey drops £79m Financial Times libel case

Editor Roula Khalaf says it’s a “vindication for investigative journalism”.

5) Top 50 US news websites: Double-digit YoY declines at more than half despite Iran war

The majority of the 50 biggest news websites in the US saw month-on-month traffic growth in March.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

🙏Thank heavens for the US First Amendment.

Florida district judge Darrin Gayles has demolished President Trump’s threadbare $10bn lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.

And his ruling throwing out Trump’s “baseless” claim makes it a near certainty that his $10bn lawsuit against the BBC will likely get the same treatment.

This is a big relief to BBC licence fee payers and to journalists everywhere that the United States remains the home of free speech.

Gayles said Trump’s claim comes nowhere near the standard needed to show actual malice on behalf of the publisher, as required in US law.

The Journal would need to have shown reckless disregard for the truth to fall foul of US law when in fact it responsibly reported on a matter of clear public interest. The judge set out how the Journal had given Trump right of reply and included his denials, leaving it up to readers to make their mind up about whether the story was true or not.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤖 We’ve spoken to the founders of Tollbit – a company which aims to control and monetise AI access to publisher websites.

The somewhat concerning news is that they see bot traffic trending towards overtaking human website traffic in the near future.

The more encouraging message is that they think publishers will soon be making more money from bots than they are directly from human website visitors.

READ THE FULL STORY

💥 And we found out how Politico’s specialist reporting teams have been covering the US/Israel versus Iran war.

Nowadays you will be hard-pressed to find a national newsbrand with even one dedicated environment reporter.

Politico now has 73 editorial staff covering the linked energy and environment beat worldwide following the merger of Politico Pro Energy with E&E News (a specialist brand acquired by Politico in 2020).

Going deep in this area has allowed Politico to build a strong base of paying B2B subscribers while also boosting its free-to-air website and podcast audience.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

Former Times environment editor Ben Webster has launched a legal claim against the Government for withholding documents that he claims should be publicly accessible. (Press Gazette)

Peter Saunders, the editor of the daily Birmingham Post between 1984 and 1989, has died from cancer aged 85. (Press Gazette)

Trump Media and Technology Group has withdrawn an amended defamation claim filed in Florida against The Guardian over a report about $8m in payments to the company from entities linked to Vladimir Putin. (The Guardian)

The News Media Association has appointed Theo Bamber, currently chief policy and public affairs officer at the Music Publishers' Association, as its new CEO. Bamber will succeeded Owen Meredith, who is joining DMG Media as head of public policy, on 18 May.

The Guardian has made a series of appointments for its newsletters team including for UK flagship morning newsletter First Edition. It also revealed Saturday Edition, written by editor-in-chief Kath Viner, reaches almost 2.5 million people each week. (The Guardian)

Gary Neville's sports podcasting business The Overlap has bought Youtube channels The United Stand and That's Football (with a combined 3.7 million subscribers) in a reported seven-figure deal. (The Guardian)

A report looking at 43 independent "creator" journalists in the US (mainly publishing independent newsletters) found that only three of them were fully funding their lifestyle with journalism work. (Center for News, Technology & Innovation)

US tabloid outlet TMZ is expanding to Washington DC with three producers to "explore the intersection between pop culture and politics". (Nieman Lab)

Google has given website publishers until 15 June to stop "back button" hijacking or else face being downgraded in search. The tactic, used by the likes of Taboola, makes pressing the back button on a website browser open an unwanted advert. (Search Engine Journal)

CNN has hired Chris Wiggins, former chief data scientist at The New York Times, for a newly created role as head of machine learning and AI science. (Variety)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Banker Crispin Odey drops £79m Financial Times libel case

Editor Roula Khalaf says it’s a “vindication for investigative journalism”.

2) Top 50 US news websites: Double-digit YoY declines at more than half despite Iran war

The majority of the 50 biggest news websites in the US saw month-on-month traffic growth in March.

3) March Google core update brings modest gains for news websites

Most search visibility changes fall within normal levels of fluctuations.

4) Daily newsletter is Telegraph’s ‘biggest source of subscribers’ one year after launch

Telegraph says newsletter is read by 850,000 people every day.

5) Daily Beast makes subscriptions ‘core focus’ of revenue growth

‘Highbrow tabloid’ has more than 100,000 paying subscribers plus thousands on Substack and Youtube.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

Today’s newsletter is brought to you in association with Opinary by Affinity, the audience engagement platform behind polls in The Economist, FT, The Times and more.

With less than 24 hours between newsletter and show, The Economist Insider needed a fast way to bring reader voices into the conversation. See how polls became the answer and drove 30% click-through to episodes.

🥳 The Financial Times has won a major victory for press freedom and for victims of unwanted attention at work as it won its libel battle with banker Crispin Odey.

Some three years after the FT, along with Tortoise Media, published allegations that Odey had sexually assaulted multiple women, he has dropped the £79m claim for damages filed a year later.

The case hinged on the public interest defence. The FT was able to prove that it was reporting responsibly on a matter that served the public good.

This will have involved a huge amount of work prior to publication ensuring that facts and testimony were checked, rechecked and faithfully logged and ensuring Odey had ample time to respond.

This case, as with The Guardian versus Noel Clarke, underlines the fact that, in the UK, only the biggest and most resolute news organisations can risk giving a voice to employees who are the victims of powerful colleagues. Both cases cost millions to defend and will have been a major distraction for investigative journalist teams tied up with legal queries and disclosure requests.

In cash terms the return for the FT for its Odey story will be hard to justify. I doubt it will have sparked enough new subscriptions to justify the years of distracting lawfare.

But I suspect this legal fight will pay out in the long run as an investment in the brand, showing the FT doesn’t just report the news but changes the world for the better with a cast-iron commitment to its principles.

READ THE FULL STORY

📉 Most US news websites lost traffic year on year in March, despite the launch of the Iran war at the start of the month.

US sites are adjusting to a new era of dramatically lower referral traffic from Google, with 22 sites in our top 50 ranking seeing at least 20% fewer visits in March 2026 compared with the same period a year ago.

Traffic decline to news websites is less marked in the UK (so far).

My theory is that Google is treading a little more cautiously with its AI Mode and AI Overviews rollout in the UK pending the establishment of a new regulatory regime under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act later this year. My somewhat cynical prediction is that Google will wait until the new regime is in place then put the thumbscrews on publishers.

READ THE FULL STORY

🔎 The latest Google core algorithm update rolled out at the end of March and appears to have had little impact on UK news websites. The Guardian, Money Saving Expert and Substack were among the news websites to see a boost in Google search visibility following the changes.

Disappointingly, an associated update designed to crack down on spam websites appears to have done little to stop the proliferation of misleading clickbait content from fake websites on Google’s main news platform: Discover.

READ THE FULL STORY

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🤏News In Brief

This week’s Foresight News diary includes Southport Inquiry findings, European football fixtures and a large-scale housing protest in London. (Press Gazette)

TV presenter Dan Walker will appear at an employment tribunal after his former Channel 5 News co-host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije brought a case alleging she faced bullying, sexism and misogyny. Programme producer ITN said the claim is "denied in full". (BBC)

Neighbourhood app Nextdoor is opening early access to local journalist accounts to provide them with tips and sources and boost distribution for stories as some local newsrooms shrink. (Axios)

Axios had its best performing Q1 and second-best quarter overall in its traffic history, with total page views up 30% year on year despite output declining 22%, chief executive Jim VandeHei reportedly told staff. (Status)

Channel 5 has commissioned a 90-minute documentary based on footage of Boris Johnson going behind the frontline in Ukraine for the Daily Mail. (Daily Mail)

Google News has started showing Polymarket bets alongside news articles. (Futurism)

GB News breakfast show presenter Eamonn Holmes is recovering in hospital after suffering a stroke last week: “Eamonn has asked for privacy as he focuses on getting better.”

The Pentagon has asked a federal judge to allow it to continue requiring escorts whenever journalists enter the US defence headquarters, a restriction that it argues is essential to guarding against national security leaks. (The New York Times)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Daily newsletter is Telegraph’s ‘biggest source of subscribers’ one year after launch

Telegraph says newsletter is read by 850,000 people every day.

2) Daily Beast makes subscriptions ‘core focus’ of revenue growth

‘Highbrow tabloid’ has more than 100,000 paying subscribers plus thousands on Substack and Youtube.

3) Top 50 English-language news sites in the world in March: Al Jazeera traffic surges amid Iran war

Qatar-based news site Al Jazeera saw global traffic growth of almost 400% in March compared to a year earlier, according to the latest Similarweb data.

4) Times ‘fewer, better stories’ strategy leads to run of audience growth

‘Paper of record’ has seen page views go up as total story count went down.

5) Wall Street Journal video team recentres around ‘journalism that’s worth paying for’

Head of video Maral Usefi explains six pillars of video strategy implemented in past six months.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

📧 In less than a year The Telegraph’s flagship From the Editor newsletter became its biggest source of new paying subscribers.

It’s a valuable lesson, if you still needed one, in the way a good editorial-led newsletter can connect with readers in a way few other mediums can.

The Telegraph claims it may be the biggest daily newsletter in the UK, regularly read by 850,000 people. Without knowing the open rates and list sizes of other major newsletters, this is impossible for us to fact check.

But I’d certainly say it seems the tactic of auto-enrolling anyone who signs up as a registered reader to The Telegraph website seems to be working without annoying and alienating them, if the subscriber conversion rate is as good as it sounds.

READ THE FULL STORY

💪 The Daily Beast is earlier on in its subscriptions journey than The Telegraph but it started putting new focus and investment into its paid products last year following the arrival of a new leadership team in 2024.

Daily Beast president Keith Bonnici told me he was thrilled the newsbrand had entered our ranking of English-language publishers with 100,000 or more digital subscribers - and noted how few are digital-only or digital native brands like his.

But we’re not just talking about the website/app subscription. There are separate editorial products with their own subscriptions on both Substack and Youtube.

READ THE FULL STORY

📈Al Jazeera saw astronomical global traffic growth in March after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

As a result Al Jazeera was the 11th biggest English-language news website in the world in March, jumping up from 31st place a month earlier.

Possibly as a result of this major news moment, 44 out of the 50 sites in our ranking saw month-on-month growth - the highest proportion we’ve seen in, well, absolutely ages.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

Nieman Lab analysis appears to confirm links do hurt engagement for news publishers on X.

More than 100 Propublica journalists were on strike yesterday after two years of negotiations failed to secure a union contract deal. The issues include wage increases, layoff protections and how AI is adopted. (New York Times)

The Associated Press has warned US regional publisher Lee Enterprises that an attempt to break its news licensing contract is "not valid". The AP is planning to cut US staff in a restructuring away from hyperlocal news. (Axios)

Staff at US regional publisher McClatchy are in revolt over an AI "content scaling agent" that produces new pieces using their existing work. (The Wrap)

A judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging USA Today Co of disclosing the personal information of website visitors to third parties without consent. However the plaintiffs have been given leave to file an amended complaint. (Bloomberg Law)

A judge has ordered Perplexity to hand over seven additional months of internal user‑activity logs in a copyright lawsuit brought by Dow Jones and other publishers, saying it would be “burdensome” but “proportional”. (Law360)

Soros Fund Management is leading an investment round in progressive media company Meidas Touch Network, which said it will add more digital creators and journalists as a result. (Bloomberg)

The BBC broke its editorial standards by broadcasting a racial slur shouted by Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson at the BAFTAs last month, but a review found the breach was "unintentional". It also said there was "no editorial justification". (BBC News)

The Government has announced Sir Ian Cheshire, former chair of Channel 4, as the preferred choice for Ofcom chair. (Financial Times)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Times ‘fewer, better stories’ strategy leads to run of audience growth

‘Paper of record’ has seen page views go up as total story count went down.

2) Wall Street Journal video team recentres around ‘journalism that’s worth paying for’

Head of video Maral Usefi explains six pillars of video strategy implemented in past six months.

3) Le Monde CEO urges publishers to sign AI partnerships to stay competitive

Boss of French newsbrand says deals with OpenAI, Perplexity and Meta are paying off.

4) Wired pulls plug on UK print edition as it focuses on global subscriber growth

Editorial director Katie Drummond explains how UK newsroom fits into global strategy.

5) Cafeyn finalises Readly merger to become ‘largest buyer of publishing content in Europe’

Cafeyn now owns and operates Readly in the UK, Germany, Australia and Switzerland.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

🗞️ ‘Paper of record’ The Times is no longer covering every spit and cough of a story.

Instead it’s following a strategy of producing “fewer, better stories” and says that as story count has gone down (by 25% overall), page views are going up.

Helped by some impressive technical SEO work following the adoption of a .com URL, The Times is currently seeing Google search and Discover growth.

I spoke to deputy head of digital Anna Sbuttoni about the new strategy and the five priorities that are making it work.

READ THE FULL STORY

📽️ Staying inside News Corp, we have a follow-up to my interview last week with Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker.

You may remember she mentioned a new on-platform video strategy (moving away from a previous emphasis on social media and Youtube in particular).

I now have much more detail on what’s changed under head of video Maral Usefi, who joined the WSJ just over six months ago.

Usefi explained the six pillars of video being created by a team that has grown by a third since she arrived. Original and investigative journalism is unsurprisingly the most important, but that’s just one part of the package.

Usefi described how “the main point for our video department is really to make video journalism that’s worth paying for”.

That also means the quality has to be up to scratch, giving a premium feel to the WSJ even though consumers are simultaneously used to consuming scrappy social media videos.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤖 And finally Alice Brooker spoke to Le Monde CEO Louis Dreyfus about what he sees as the importance of doing AI deals.

Le Monde was the first French publisher to come to an agreement with OpenAI and it has also since signed with Perplexity and Meta.

He’s disappointed that many publishers have not followed suit, saying it is important for competition in the market to get that AI licensing revenue in.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

Esquire Singapore generated an interview with One Piece actor Mackenyu Maeda using AI because he was too busy to meet in person. The magazine told readers: "With a driving need for a feature, we had to be inventive". (Kotaku)

The New York Times has done a deal for Delta Airlines customers to access its journalism and wider content via in-flight screens and on their own devices while connected to Delta Wifi, and for the 24 hours afterwards, to get its products in front of people in a new way. (Axios)

American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, was released yesterday, US and Iraqi officials said. (Associated Press)

Media technology company Amagi has launched Newspulse, an AI platform that turns live broadcast news into social-ready clips and news bulletins in real time for partnered newsrooms. It is being tested with select publishers now and general availability is expected in June 2026. (Media Play News)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Wired pulls plug on UK print edition as it focuses on global subscriber growth

Editorial director Katie Drummond explains how UK newsroom fits into global strategy.

2) Cafeyn finalises Readly merger to become ‘largest buyer of publishing content in Europe’

Cafeyn now owns and operates Readly in the UK, Germany, Australia and Switzerland.

3) AI tools for journalists, and how to avoid ‘brain death’

A range of AI tools are making journalists more efficient, but they come with dangers attached.

4) WSJ editor Emma Tucker on how title grew digital subs by a third to 4.3m

Tucker has made some tough choices and shaken up newsroom since 2023.

5) Reddit says publisher post views up 46% after Pro Tools rollout

Reddit’s publisher tools launched in September 2025 and now available to all.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

🏢 At the end of last year, seven senior journalists left Wired’s UK newsroom, vacating roles such as deputy global editorial director, managing editor, global design director and features editor.

I wanted to find out what had led to this round of departures and spoke to global editorial director Katie Drummond about her plans for Wired in the UK and globally.

She explained why there will be no Wired print magazine published in the UK this year, saying “it makes less and less sense for us to be publishing print products”.

More widely we discussed the need for Wired to be first more often, with Drummond describing this strategy as ‘Story Zero’. Most of what she is implementing at the moment is aimed at building Wired’s direct subscriber base so they are less reliant on other platforms.

She warns “Google couldn’t care less if Wired or any other publisher lives or dies…”.

And Wired got headlines with some splashy reporting over the past year, most notably on Elon Musk’s DOGE stripping of the US government.

All of this seems to be working, with people subscribing directly to Wired (rather than via any third-party provider) up 20% in 2025 and more than 200,000 new paying subscribers added.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤳French all-you-can-read platform Cafeyn has finalised its acquisition of Readly’s non-Nordic businesses, meaning it is now running the platform in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

Readly users won’t see much immediate difference, with the branding remaining the same. But Cafeyn CEO Laurent Kayser told Alice Brooker about the type of product improvements we can see soon and why having this sort of scale will be good news for publishers.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤖 And Dominic Ponsford delved into new data from Muckrack showing the journalists and news outlets most cited by the top four AI answer engines.

The data confirmed what you may already suspect: having a specialism is increasingly advantageous in today’s world of commodified general information.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

The Associated Press is offering an unspecified number of voluntary buyouts to journalists in the US, aiming to reduce its global staff number by less than 5% as its revenue mix pivots from US print newspaper clients. (Press Gazette)

This week’s Foresight News diary marks Artemis II returning to Earth, the EU Entry/Exit System going live, and the Masters. (Press Gazette)

The Daily Mail's premium paywall Mail+ has reached 400,000 paying subscribers (up 23% from 325,000 in July 2025). (Linkedin)

The New York Times has issued a correction after misnaming NATO in a print headline on Thursday, referring to the group as the “North American Treaty Organization” rather than its correct name, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (Newsmax)

President Donald Trump has threatened to jail journalists at the unnamed media outlet that first reported a second airman was missing following the shoot-down of an US fighter jet in Iran last week. (NBC News)

OpenAI has bought daily online tech show TBPN, which has an audience of start-up founders and investors, for "low hundreds of millions of dollars". An editorial independence guarantee is said to be baked in. (Financial Times)

A Reform candidate has pulled out of hustings being held by Scottish newspaper The National, accusing it of spreading misinformation. Editor Laura Webster said this was "a tired, Trumpian attack line". (The National)

Reach website Edinburgh Live has removed several "racist" adverts about immigration that came via a "partner's automated programmatic advertising" and said it is taking steps to improve its guardrails. (The Edinburgh Minute)

Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker praised the use of AI at Fortune by journalist Nick Lichtenberg (who was the subject of a recent WSJ profile). Tucker told Fortune's editor: "Anyone who doesn't get what you are doing at Fortune, or thinks it is 'wrong', should get out of journalism fast!". (X)

Five former Eater writers are launching Ravenous, a worker-owned food and culture website. They said conversation around food is being “reduced to AI-generated pablum, ‘best of’ lists, and influencer-driven trends”. (Ravenous)

👀In case you missed it:

1) WSJ editor Emma Tucker on how title grew digital subs by a third to 4.3m

Tucker has made some tough choices and shaken up newsroom since 2023.

2) Reddit says publisher post views up 46% after Pro Tools rollout

Reddit’s publisher tools launched in September 2025 and now available to all.

3) AI tools for journalists, and how to avoid ‘brain death’

A range of AI tools are making journalists more efficient, but they come with dangers attached.

4) Ex-National World boss buys Scottish newsbrands and B2B conference

Hero Media & Entertainment launches with portfolio of predominantly Scottish business newsbrands.

5) Future share price plummets after warning Google traffic loss has worsened

Company is now worth just £267m despite spending £1.6bn on acquisitions.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

🚀 Online subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal are up 30% in three years to 4.3 million.

We spoke to editor Emma Tucker about how she has shaken up the newsroom in that time and focused her team on the metrics that matter.

At times the changes have been uncomfortable, with successive newsroom restructures seeing a number of staff leave the business. But her vision of creating “new, distinctive, useful, compelling, relevant journalism” appears to be paying off.

READ THE FULL STORY

🧰 Talking about being useful, Reddit’s suite of Pro Tools for publishers are now available for free to all.

I’ve already signed up Press Gazette, but yet to figure out what to do next. What I do know is that Reddit has been on a roll over the last two years since forging a commercial partnership with Google. X has gone down the toilet and Reddit could be its successor as the social media platform for journalists and news.

Publishers are growing in visibility on Reddit so it is well worth setting up your own page on the platform and taking advantage of the free help on offer.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤖 And Rob Waugh has been talking to journalists about the AI tools they are using to work more effectively.

From NotebookLM to Claude Projects, there is a lot more to AI than ChatGPT.

His report also includes a warning to guard against ‘brain death’ by outsourcing too much to the robots.

READ THE FULL STORY

🍻 It’s Maundy Thursday today for Christians, a day when the British monarch traditionally hands out money to the poor and journalists hand over money to publicans.

In the days when newspapers did not print on Good Friday, Maundy Thursday was marked by some newsrooms with boozy junkets to the seaside.

Nowadays the old rhythms of print production no longer dominate and Christmas is the only day when newspapers are not in newsagents.

But I hope you get a chance to at least knock off a bit early today and enjoy your own wayzgoose, as it was known.

🤏News In Brief

Former Trinity Mirror and National World COO Mark Hollinshead has launched new media company Hero Media & Entertainment, kickstarted by the acquisitions of two Scottish publishers. (Press Gazette)

Search Engine Journal has removed all programmatic advertising and is instead “lead gating”. Readers must share their email address in order to read the website, meaning the title can use this data for email-based marketing and more targeted direct-sold advertising. (Linkedin)

Rebecca Keating, currently assistant editor on The World at One, PM, Broadcasting House and The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4, has been named the next editor of the station’s Today programme.

The Salt Lake Tribune is ditching its paywall in May. It explained that it became a non-profit in 2019 and believes "essential news should reach everyone" but asked subscribers to continue to support it as donors. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

Today is Cathy Newman's last day at Channel 4 News before she joins Sky News. Yesterday was her final day in the Leeds studio and today she finishes in London. (Instagram)

Business Insider is reportedly giving out a $400 quarterly staff prize for the best use of AI at the company. (X)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Future share price plummets after warning Google traffic loss has worsened

Company is now worth just £267m despite spending £1.6bn on acquisitions.

2) Harry privacy trial part of Hacked Off ‘political campaign’ says Mail

Closing arguments and round-up after epic 11-week High Court trial.

3) Agency faces ‘£100,000’ legal costs from Mail and Telegraph over £200 pictures claim

Publishers say Leidig claims baseless because he does not own copyright.

4) Press Gazette exposé of parasite SEO firm removed from Google results

Story removed from Google index after bogus copyright complaint.

5) Daily Star became a hit on MSN by tailoring content to robot editor

Daily Star content on MSN sometimes surpasses on-site traffic.

📻Latest podcast

How Wall Street Journal supercharged online subs growth

Since former Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker moved to New York to head up the Wall Street Journal, online subscriptions are up 30% to 4.3 million.

Charlotte Tobitt explains why tough choices have worked out for the world’s most popular financial news brand.

Is it ever possible to keep sources secret in the today’s surveillance age? The Guardian may have cracked this problem and is sharing it with the world.

Plus Dominic Ponsford reveals how Press Gazette came under attack from black hat SEO operatives trying to silence reporting about the darker side of the SEO industry.

Listen now

📉 Future plc’s market cap fell to a new low for recent years of £267m yesterday, as it warned that website traffic was down 20%.

For a company that has pinned its success on advertising revenue and e-commerce, the drop-off in Google traffic has been disastrous.

Future made £739m revenue last year on profit of £92m, but both those figures are continuing to head downwards.

It has spent some £1.6bn on acquisitions since 2016. If it had instead just put that money in a safe somewhere rather than buying the likes of Dennis Publishing and Go Compare the company would today be worth at least six times what it is at the moment.

READ THE FULL STORY

⚖️ As the epic 11-week Prince Harry versus the Mail privacy trial concluded yesterday, publisher Associated Newspapers said the whole thing was part of a “political campaign” by Hacked Off.

Five years after the death of Max Mosley, the former Formula One boss continues to wreak his vengeance on the UK tabloid press.

It appears to have been Mosley’s cash, distributed via journalist-turned-legal researcher Graham Johnson, which induced private investigators to give evidence against the Mail.

This evidence was then used by lawyers to persuade Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, Baroness Lawrence and others to sue Associated Newspapers.

At least 40 journalists have been implicated in the alleged criminal conspiracy at the Mail titles but all insist they are innocent of commissioning or carrying out illegal acts.

Most of the complained-about stories probably were breaches of privacy by today’s legal standards, but the cases hinge on proving that criminality was involved and the claimants only realised this within six years of suing.

We will have to wait a few months for Mr Justice Nicklin to return his written judgment, but I will be surprised if this one results in anything other than a humiliating defeat for Harry and his team.

The evidence from Associated has been copious and convincing while that supplied by the celebrity claimants looks circumstantial and, in places, decidedly wobbly.

READ THE FULL STORY

📷 A small claims court legal battle over fees of less than £200 in picture syndication has left news agency journalist Michael Leidig with a potential costs bill of £100,000, he claims.

Leidig believes that the Telegraph and Mail titles are running the tab up with expensive external barristers and legal advice to make him go away.

And he argues that an important principle is at stake regarding the right of news agencies to be paid when they have gone to the effort of sourcing and verifying supplied pictures that they do not themselves own the copyright to.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

The 15-month sale process of The Spectator resulted in total costs to the magazine of £11.4m, according to its latest accounts for the year to December 2024. In 2023, the year it was bought for £100m, it made a £6.6m loss. (Press Gazette).

Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler is joining The i Paper in the same role. (X)

US freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson has been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and one of the suspects is linked to an Iran-backed militia, Iraqi and US officials say. (BBC)

A federal judge has found Trump violated free speech by ordering NPR and PBS to be defunded, and agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from ending federal funding. (Associated Press)

Two more Reach brands have launched premium digital subscriptions, taking the total to ten. The new launches are Belfast Live and Yorkshire Live.
Birmingham Live, which launched on 12 March, now has 1,000 paying subcribers.

Digitalbox, which owns brands such as Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Tab and TV Guide, grew revenue by 7% to £3.9m in 2025 with adjusted EBITDA up 9% to £0.7m. It now has ten brands in total following new launches and acquisitions last year. (Yahoo Finance)

The New York Times has dropped a freelance journalist after discovering he used AI to help write a book review that pulled sections of a review of the same book in The Guardian. (The Guardian)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Press Gazette exposé of parasite SEO firm removed from Google results

Story removed from Google index after bogus copyright complaint.

2) Daily Star became a hit on MSN by tailoring content to robot editor

Daily Star content on MSN sometimes surpasses on-site traffic.

3) Publishers warn reduced FOI cost limit would put public-interest information ‘beyond scrutiny’

Government reportedly exploring reduced cost ceiling for processing FOI requests.

4) Guardian’s first Substack experiment is republishing food newsletter

Weekly Feast newsletter to be cross-posted to Substack in bid for new audience.

5) Reach website rapped over ‘significantly misleading’ pensions headline

Fourth Birmingham Live headline ruled by IPSO to be misleading in just over a year.

📻Latest podcast

Tech transformation at ADWEEK with Mike Beyman

ADWEEK chief strategy officer Mike Beyman talks AI, tech transformation and new forms of advertising for publishers with Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford. This episode was sponsored by WordPress VIP.

Listen now

🤨 Who knew that underhand SEO tactics could be used to silence reporting about underhand SEO tactics?

Press Gazette’s exposé of parasite SEO firm Clickout Media has been scrubbed from the internet after a copyright takedown request to Google in the US saw it removed from the search giant’s index.

The anonymous request says the Press Gazette article was a copy of a piece written by The Verge in 2024, which was on a similar topic but is clearly a different story.

This is a cynical ploy made by someone seeking to protect Clickout Media’s reputation. Two follow-up pieces written by other titles have also been removed from search using the same tactic.

READ THE FULL STORY

💷 The Daily Star is now making so much money from stories syndicated to web portal MSN that it has a reporter working full time on repurposing content for the site.

Sidebar: some of this now includes videos created completely with AI.

Adam Cailler told us how he learned to please MSN’s automated (and somewhat prudish) editing system.

Stories syndicated to the likes of MSN can make more money for publishers than work published on their own sites.

This is because of the huge audiences on these platforms and because users of portals like MSN and Yahoo are generally signed in so can be targeted with ads sold at a premium.

READ THE FULL STORY

🚨 And the UK Freedom of Information Act is again under attack.

The Government wants to change the rules making it easier for public authorities to reject requests on the grounds they would be too expensive to answer.

The News Media Association (NMA) has written a letter to the Government explaining why publishers are alarmed about this.

Cost limits on answering FOIs have already been effectively cut every year for 20 years because they have never been updated in line with inflation. Further restrictions would keep public interest information locked up.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

Mark Beard is stepping down as chief executive of Prospect magazine after three years, leaving to join Ireland’s Business Post as CEO. (Press Gazette)

Hearst UK has added three senior hires to its commercial division: Sylvain Foucat as head of revenue optimisation, Joe Grimsdale as head of Hearst global solutions in the UK, and Sarah Newton Boyd as head of partnership solutions in a newly created role.

PA Media has appointed Nick Lester, formerly its chief House of Lords correspondent, to the new role of US editor to re-establish an "on-the-ground presence in the US".

The BBC has been accused of making “propaganda films” for Saudi Arabia and accepting money to produce films for the country’s sovereign wealth fund. (Desmog)

A federal judge ruled in favour of Fox News in a lawsuit brought by former producer Jason Donner, finding he was not unlawfully fired after taking a sick day. (Deadline)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Guardian’s first Substack experiment is republishing food newsletter

Weekly Feast newsletter to be cross-posted to Substack in bid for new audience.

2) Reach website rapped over ‘significantly misleading’ pensions headline

Fourth Birmingham Live headline ruled by IPSO to be misleading in just over a year.

3) 50 biggest UK news websites in February: Herald Scotland rejoins ranking with biggest annual growth

Scottish newsbrand The Herald re-entered Press Gazette’s ranking of the 50 biggest news websites in the UK in February.

4) Tindle Newspapers sold to Iliffe joint venture

Tindle boss says titles will benefit from “scale, expertise and resources” of new owner.

5) The SEO parasites buying, exploiting and ultimately killing online newsbrands

An investigation into Clickout Media, the SEO company killing websites with AI content.

📻Latest podcast

Tech transformation at ADWEEK with Mike Beyman

ADWEEK chief strategy officer Mike Beyman talks AI, tech transformation and new forms of advertising for publishers with Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford. This episode was sponsored by WordPress VIP.

Listen now

📨 The Guardian is the latest major publisher to launch a newsletter on Substack.

The brand’s popular food email newsletter, Feast, will be published on Substack as well as its current platform.

While Substack is pretty basic (designs are formulaic and data is limited) it is free if you are just using it to send emails. It has handy social media-style functionality. And, most importantly, it has its own publisher ecosystem whereby recommendations from other users send new customers your way.

We’ve certainly found Substack itself to be a handy source of new subscribers helping us grow the database on this newsletter to 30,000-plus.

READ THE FULL STORY

📰 The Birmingham Mail is the latest Reach title to be censured by IPSO for publishing a misleading clickbait headline.

As with so many of these types of stories, the headline made an imaginative leap to conjure a scary scenario about readers’ personal finance which was not warranted by the story.

The Express had 12 similar upheld complaints last year.

READ THE FULL STORY

📉 The latest top 50 UK news websites ranking shows some Reach titles are being hammered by changes to Google Discover, which the company revealed earlier this month have impacted referral traffic.

Lancs Live, Examiner Live, Chronicle Live and the Manchester Evening News all lost more than 20% of traffic year on year, according to Ipsos iris data. Metro and The Standard were other major brands to lose more than 20% of monthly reach compared to the same period a year ago.

Reach also had one of the fastest-growing titles in the Daily Star, up 73% year on year, and the Mirror also reported strong growth - up 15% year on year.

Overall, only 21 sites in the UK top 50 grew traffic year on year in February 2026.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤝And finally a local news publishing story that began in the 1950s entered a new chapter last week, as Tindle Newspapers was sold to Iliffe Media.

Founder Sir Ray Tindle grew the group to 200-plus titles at its peak with a ‘never surrender’ attitude forged during his wartime military service.

The group is now much smaller, comprising around 24 newspaper titles, some of which are nearly 200 years old.

I think Sir Ray, who died in 2022 aged 95, would be content that his empire is now in the hands of Iliffe Media Group - another family-owned enterprise that appears to care deeply about local journalism, the communities it serves and that takes a longer-term outlook than the next set of monthly page-view stats.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤏News In Brief

This week’s Foresight News diary sees BBC director-general Tim Davie exit the corporation and marks 50 years of Apple. (Press Gazette)

Three journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Saturday. Two were senior correspondents working respectively for publications Al Manar (described as "Hezbollah-affiliated") and Al Mayadeen ("pro-Hezbollah"). (Sky News)

A CNN team were detained in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers on Thursday, with rifles pointed at them, and a photojournalist placed in a "chokehold" and "slammed" to the ground, damaging his camera. (The Guardian)

Politico has named Jonathan Greenberger as its new editor-in-chief effective 1 May, succeeding John Harris who is transitioning to chairman. (Politico)

Richard Colebourn has been named regional director for Europe for BBC News and the BBC World Service. (Advanced Television)

One of three men accused of murdering journalist Lyra McKee in Derry/Londonderry in 2019 has been described as "part of the shooting party" who was "intentionally encouraging the gunman" in the prosecution's final trial submissions. (BBC)

Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson is suing Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst, and the force itself for libel over a police statement, a Conservative Home article and LBC interview by Hirst, about a probe into an X post. (GB News)

Kent-based lifestyle title MMM Magazine is closing its business after 14 years alongside its three sister titles including Best Attractions in Kent.

The Government’s proposed late payment reform has been described as "modest" for freelance journalists. It will limit payment terms to 60 days except in "strictly limited exceptions" and the right to charge interest of 8% on unpaid sums will be standard. (National Union of Journalists)

Music and fashion magazine The Face is shutting down after relaunching in 2019 "for a new era". (Clash)

Ex-BBC News and ITN CEO Deborah Turness will deliver the Sir David Nicholas Memorial Lecture in London on 12 May. (The Media Society)

CBS News is expanding its investigative news team with Washington Post and Free Press alumni, while also coordinating an internal reshuffle to boost numbers. (Semafor)

👀In case you missed it:

1) The SEO parasites buying, exploiting and ultimately killing online newsbrands

An investigation into Clickout Media, the SEO company killing websites with AI content.

2) Guardian source messaging tech bringing in ‘much higher quality’ of tips

‘I am Spartacus’: Everyone who downloads Guardian app helps protect sources.

3) Hyperlocal newsletters find revenue covering Kent coastal towns

Profitable hyperlocal newsletter aims to expand into more coastal towns.

4) Canny marketing has powered growing revenue at London Review of Books

Circulation has been level in recent years at around 70,000 per fortnight.

5) Social media overtakes newsbrands as primary news source for UK MPs

Guardian overtakes Times to be most-read newspaper brand among MPs.

📻Latest podcast

Tech transformation at ADWEEK with Mike Beyman

ADWEEK chief strategy officer Mike Beyman talks AI, tech transformation and new forms of advertising for publishers with Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford. This episode was sponsored by WordPress VIP.

Listen now

Today’s newsletter is brought to you in association with Opinary by Affinity – the audience engagement platform behind polls in The Economist, FT, The Times & more.

Their latest case study shows how The Economist Insider uses reader polls to deepen subscriber relationships and drive show engagement. Discover what a virtuous cycle between newsletter and video looks like in practice.

Read the full article

🪱 Our latest Reality Wars investigation exposes the world of parasitic SEO.

In particular we look at one UK company that appears to have acquired viable newsbrands in order to harvest their site authority with Google to promote content that sends gamblers to offshore casinos.

The MO of this company appears to be to sack paid journalists, replace them with AI characters and then pack the sites with casino content until Google itself cottons on and pulls the plug (delisting the sites from search).

Once Google has taken this drastic measure a site is effectively dead, because even if you type its own name into Google you won’t find it.

READ THE FULL STORY

🍦 We also report on how innovative source protection technology at The Guardian has started supplying the brand with scoops.

We found out how the tech works, why it is so hard to protect sources in the digital age and how other newsbrands can deploy this product for free.

READ THE FULL STORY

🌊 And a former magazine journalist has ambitions to save local journalism (on the coast at any rate).

Georgina Wilson-Powell launched her first email newsletter in Margate and is about to be in three seaside towns in total.

She says she has a waiting list for advertisers and a growing audience of paid subscribers, alongside ambitions to launch more titles in coastal communities around the UK.

READ THE FULL STORY

🤨 I’d like to offer one point on the news that Meta and Google have been found liable by a US court for negligently harming a woman’s mental health.

By my estimate these companies make at least £26bn a year in the UK, much of it from fraudulent, illegal and harmful content.

That’s not far off the entire UK primary school education budget.

Given executives at those companies are going to face increasing scrutiny over what they knew about efforts to promote addictive algorithms at the expense of children’s mental health, the appointment of former Google president of EMEA Matt Brittin to the role of BBC director-general is not a risk-free move.

From our sponsor

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🤏News In Brief

Former Google executive Matt Brittin has been confirmed as the BBC's new director general. He has now stood down from his role as non-executive director of Guardian Media Group. (BBC)

Substack has appointed former FT head of digital editorial development Renée Kaplan as its first head of partnerships in France to build relationships with French writers and media organisations. (Linkedin)

The Financial Times has appointed Mel Unsworth (formerly of retailer END Clothing) as chief technology officer, replacing Rebecca Salsbury who joined the FT management board as chief product and technology officer in January. (Financial Times)

US organisation The Society of Professional Journalists has called out Massachusetts for deficiencies in the state’s public records law, including persistent delays that limit government information access. (Media Nation)

Some 36% of US adults turn to their "preferred news organisation" for breaking news information, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, while 28% go to search engines and 19% go to social media. Around 5% ask friends, family or acquaintances for more information. (Pew Research Center)

👀In case you missed it:

1) Canny marketing has powered growing revenue at London Review of Books

Circulation has been level in recent years at around 70,000 per fortnight.

2) Social media overtakes newsbrands as primary news source for UK MPs

Guardian overtakes Times to be most-read newspaper brand among MPs.

3) US judge dismisses Google monopoly claim brought by local publishers

Judge said Helena World and Emmerich Newspapers could not prove harm.

4) Publishers don’t just need more traffic, they need a loyalty system (sponsored)

Publishers need to focus on an engagement strategy that turns attention into repeat use, richer data and more durable revenue.

5) Signature on crucial Prince Harry privacy case statement ‘forged’, says key witness

Gavin Burrows claims there has been a “theatre built around me that I can easily prove wrong”.

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