BBC local news impact played down | Top news sites in US and globally
And Ofcom rebukes local radio station for reporting Barry Humphries was alive after he died
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Extensive research, carried out as part of a government review of the BBC as it approaches charter renewal at the end of 2027, has found that only 2% of the corporation's local news coverage was unique.
This could suggest the BBC presents little threat to established publishers who cover their communities in far more granular detail than the corporation.
But many local newspaper editors would argue that it underlines one of their main gripes: the BBC is taking stories that have already been published elsewhere and so stealing traffic.
The corporation has a huge advantage over commercial publishers because of its brand recognition - reinforced by everything from Strictly on BBC One to Steve Wright on Radio Two - and the fact that it does not have to clutter its websites with annoying but necessary adverts and widgets that enable other publishers to turn a buck.
So it may often be third or fourth to local news, as the report finds, but it may well be first in traffic. And only 7% of BBC stories include a link to another news provider.
As with the Local Democracy Reporters scheme, isn't BBC licence fee income best used filling in news gaps rather than duplicating existing coverage and so potentially undermining the surviving commercial sector?
The latest traffic data on the top US news websites for December shows traffic continuing to crater in the face of Google algorithm changes which appear to have downgraded the prominence of news.
Among the biggest year-on-year fallers are: The Sun (down 32%), the Washington Post (down 20%) and CNN.com (down 17%). Most sites are up month on month, however, suggesting at least that the situation is stabilising.
Meanwhile our global top-50 ranking for English language news websites shows all of the top-ten most popular newsbrands down year on year. The BBC is still comfortably top of the list with one billion visits in December, according to Similarweb.
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New from Press Gazette
Government research plays down BBC local news sector impact
Although the BBC and other local news publishers do duplicate content, the new report found the BBC “rarely” covers local events not also covered by its commercial rivals.
Top 50 biggest news websites in the world: December sees traffic slumps at ten biggest for second month in a row
Among the top ten news sites by number of visits, Microsoft aggregator MSN saw the biggest slump in traffic for the second month in a row, down 25% year-on-year.
Top 50 news websites in the US in December: USA Today remains fastest-growing top ten site
People (145.9 million visits, up 20% year-on-year) was the only other top ten site by number of visits to see an increase in traffic in December.
Ofcom blasts radio news bulletin that said Barry Humphries was alive three days after he died
Ofcom said it “remained of the view that reporting that someone is alive, when they have in fact died three days earlier, was a significant error”.
News in brief
The founding editor of Daily Mail Australia has been named executive editor of the country's Nine newspapers. (The Guardian)
Mail on Sunday sports journalist Nick Harris has launched a Substack after leaving the newspaper in November. He wrote that the "kind of work I do has been increasingly difficult within the constraints of traditional media". (Sporting Intelligence)
After Spectator editor Fraser Nelson warned against proposals for Royal Mail to move to a five-day delivery system because of the damage it would inflict on current affairs weeklies, the Government has said it “would not countenance” an end to Saturday deliveries. (Harry Cole)
Mediahuis has acquired the final 30% of Medienhaus Aachen GmbH, after buying 70% of its shares at the start of 2022 to mark its entry into the German market. Mediahuis group's COO said having one shareholder will "accelerate its digital transformation". (Mediahuis)
Ofcom has decided not to pursue complaints into an episode of This Morning in which Vanessa Feltz made comments about Coeliac disease. It said viewers would not expect expert advice as she is not a medical professional, and a segment the next day provided more information. The discussion, which aired in December, was the ninth most-complained about programme to Ofcom in 2023 - but its complaints have since risen to 2,287 which would put it fifth.
Two Los Angeles Times managing editors, Sara Yasin and Shani Hilton, have resigned amid looming major staff cuts and the departure of executive editor Kevin Merida. (LA Times)
Previously on Press Gazette
Yalda Hakim says Sky News are ‘insurgents’ as she leads primetime hour of foreign coverage
Prince Harry drops libel action versus Mail On Sunday over bodyguards story
National press ABCs: Daily Mail and FT grow sales month on month in December
IPSO backs Daily Mail undercover reporting which exposed fake asylum claims
