Agencies hit out at News UK pay rates | Liberty source protection victory | US news circulations
Plus your news diary for the week ahead
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday, 19 February.
A leading UK news agency chief has had enough of freelance rates at The Sun and The Times, which in some cases haven't changed, he says, in 40 years.
£20 for a news in brief and £10 for a picture used online will not keep the lights on at Cavendish Press, says Jon Harris, who is also the chair of the National Association of Press Agencies.
Local news agencies often provide boots on the ground for the national press and can provide vital coverage of crime and courts. If they can no longer afford to function we will all be worse off.
Today we also report on a victory for Liberty in its fight to protect journalistic sources in the UK from being targeted in bulk data collection by UK spying agencies.
And we reveal the latest US newspaper circulation figures for 2023, which show only six titles selling more than 100,000 copies per day. Average print decline is running at around 14% per year, but for the likes of The Wall Street Journal (600,000) and The New York Times (300,000) print circulation is still a significant part of the business.
Your news diary for the week ahead includes the final hearing at the High Court in the long-running Julian Assange extradition case.
The Wikileaks founder has been in prison for five years fighting against extradition to the US for leaking confidential military information, including the “Collateral Murder” video that showed a US airstrike which killed 1 people in Baghdad, among them two Reuters journalists.
Following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison, announced on Friday, perhaps it is time for the West to show some moral leadership and let Assange go free.
Peter Oborne wrote in Press Gazette in 2020: "Future generations will never forgive the current generation of journalists unless we raise our game and fight to stop the extradition of Julian Assange."
New from Press Gazette
News agency rebels over Sun and Times freelance rates unchanged in 40 years
“The last review of rates by The Sun was way back in 2009 – and even then it was to impose a 10% cut on us.”
Victory for Liberty in ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ fight to protect journalists’ sources
As currently implemented, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 allows spy agencies to search for and identify journalists’ sources by looking at data harvested through bulk hacking without seeking independent authorisation.
Top 25 US newspaper circulations: Largest print titles fall 14% in year to September 2023
No newspaper in the top 25 increased its circulation year-on-year, although Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle (average circulation of 50,843, down 6% year-on-year) and Honolulu Star-Advertiser (71,646, down 7%) saw the smallest falls.
News diary 19 – 25 February: Final Assange extradition hearing, two years since Ukraine invasion
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Ahead of the final hearing in Julian Assange's extradition case, The Guardian has said that its journalism "and that of potentially every newspaper based in the US or an allied country" will be put at risk if the extradition happens. (The Guardian)
Campaign group Hacked Off and others have alleged press intrusion after cyclist Chris Hoy said he had been "forced" to explain his cancer diagnosis after undergoing chemotherapy. There has not yet been an explanation of how journalists were involved.
Politico has launched a Berlin edition of its flagship daily newsletter Playbook. The German-language Berlin Playbook is led by executive editor Gordon Repinski, who said it wants to be "the fly on the wall in the most powerful rooms in Berlin".
All Together Now, a bimonthly print newspaper for those affected by disability, ill-health and old age, has been thrown a financial lifeline after one of its readers left the publication £25,000 in her will. (Liverpool Echo)
The Oscar-winning 2022 documentary by HBO Max and CNN Films about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Navalny's death in prison was revealed on Friday. (iPlayer)
Latest podcast
Podcast 65: Beyond Google? Amazon and Microsoft are future says Ricky Sutton
Former online editor of the News of the World turned tech entrepreneur turned future of news soothsayer Ricky Sutton joins Dominic Ponsford on the podcast sofa.
He explains why Google’s reign as the most important tech partner for news publishers is drawing to a close, but more lucrative partnerships around AI and advertising with Microsoft and Amazon beckon.
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