BelTel publisher hits 100k online subs | Daily Star ditches Page 3
And former Techcrunch staffers accuse new owners of corporate double-speak in statement following cuts to Europe team
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Friday, 13 June.
Congratulations to Mediahuis Ireland which has become the 53rd English-language news publisher to exceed 100,000 online subscribers (by Press Gazette’s tally - see full 100k Club ranking).
The publisher of titles including The Belfast Telegraph, The Irish Independent and The Kerryman has taken five years to reach this milestone - proving that when it comes to reader revenue, Rome is definitely not built in a day.
Full-price online subscriptions for the Belfast Telegraph range from £7.99 to £9.99 per month with The Irish Independent plus weeklies similarly priced.
Given the entire population of Ireland is only five million people (considerably less than than Greater London) this is an impressive achievement. I’m not aware of any London-focused news outlet with more than a few thousand paid subscribers.
Newsquest, with 113,000 paid subscribers at last check, is the only other UK or Ireland-based local news publisher to crack 100,000 paid online subs.
Encouraging signs, but it is sobering to think that the Belfast Telegraph sold more than 100,000 print copies per day on its own in the early 2000s. Full story here.
This week we also celebrate another small milestone in the emancipation of women as the Daily Star removes pictures of half-dressed females from Page 3 of its print edition (they have not been topless for some time). I am sorry that I have failed to find a non-creepy way to write the preceding sentence.
It also has a new look print edition and website with the the strapline: “News with a wink”. I shall let you guess what online wags are suggesting the previous strapline might have been.
We also have more on the defenestration of the ten-strong Europe-based editorial team of IT-industry website Techcrunch. Former staffers have not taken well to the statement from Techcrunch’s private equity owners that they are in fact “doubling down” on European coverage.
Regent has also bought the likes of PC World, Macworld, Info World and Tech Advisor from IDG Europe which it says will create “a stronger, more globally focused media platform”.
This newsletter is taking a rare day off on Monday because I shall be sunning myself in France cadging free drinks and canapes on the fringes of the Cannes Lions festival (shall also be doing work stuff too).
Have a great weekend when you get there and your daily newsletter will return on Tuesday.
Press Gazette Future of Media Awards: Thursday 19 June is the deadline for entries
On Press Gazette
Mediahuis Ireland reaches 100,000 digital subscriber milestone
Digital subscriptions across The Irish Independent and Belfast Telegraph total 100,000.
Techcrunch owner says he is ‘doubling down’ on Europe after staff axed
Former staff hit out at comments from Techcrunch publisher Michael Reinstein.
Daily Star drops page three pictures of scantily dressed women in redesign
Daily Star adds strapline: "News with a wink."
News in brief
More than 500 publications have signed partnerships with Prorata.ai, which said the deals have given its AI search engine Gist.ai one of the largest generative AI licensed content libraries. (Press Gazette)
Disney and Comcast are jointly suing AI image generator Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement through the use of their film and TV show characters . (Bloomberg)
90% of union members at Vox Media voted yesterday to strike if a new contract is not reached. They want it to cover AI, pay reflecting cost of living, and improved layoff procedures. (The Wrap)
There have been more than 30 cases of "police violence" reported against journalists covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles in recent days, with some of those incidents resulting in injuries. (Reuters)
Four BBC News journalists aged over 50 have reportedly filed age discrimination complaints as they face compulsory redundancy under plans to merge the home and foreign newsdesks. The BBC said its processes are "thorough and fair". (Deadline)
Another high-profile arrival on Substack: ABC News journalist and anchor Terry Moran, who was just fired over a tweet calling Trump a "world-class hater". (Substack)
Gannett is now using tech from Taboola to launch an AI answer engine on USA Today. The Independent is doing the same. (USA Today)
A Facebook local news group for updates about Brentford in London has suspended without explanation from the platform and only reinstated after a story went live from another local publisher. Press Gazette has reported on other recent unexplained Facebook local news bans, described as an "attack on local journalism". (ChiswickW4)
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Latest podcast: Video masterclasss with PA Media's Joe Pickover
UK national news agency PA Media has massively ramped up its video output in recent years and is able to provide live video feeds of news events across the country. Here PA head of video Joe Pickover explains how publishers can make video work for them in a podcast edition which is presented by Press Gazette in association with PA Media.