Bulley case police media failings revealed | Prince Harry takes Mail privacy battle to Government
And why the Telegraph auction has been put on pause
Good morning and welcome to your daily media news briefing on Wednesday, 22 November, brought to you in association with Bauer Academy.
Find out more about their one-day journalism courses (offered with Press Gazette):
Ecosystem of a Story – November 28 2023
Introduction to Data Journalism – December 6 2023
Newsroom Resilience – January 16 2024
AI in the Newsroom – January 23 2024
Solutions Journalism – January 30 2024
Common sense suggests the media circus following the death of Nicola Bulley could have been avoided with some grown-up background briefing early on.
Sadly many police forces appear to see journalists as the enemy and the public's right to know as irrelevant. We are all worse off as a result, and the Bulley family were the biggest victims in this case.
Today we also report on the launch by The Guardian of an advertising product aiming to monetise the huge number of online readers who are otherwise lost to publishers because they opt out of cookies.
Prince Harry has opened up yet another front in his war on the tabloids and wants the Government to release secret Leveson Inquiry documents to support his unlawful newsgathering legal action against the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
And the Daily Mirror is back in the High Court. We report on a libel trial brought by inventor James Dyson over a comment piece in which Brian Reade said he had "screwed the country" by moving his head office to Singapore.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph auction has been paused for two weeks while the Barclay family finalises an Abu Dhabi-backed deal to pay back £1.16bn to Lloyds.
The deal would see UAE-backed Redbird IMI take ownership of the Telegraph and Spectator.
The pause is apparently to ensure bidders don't waste time and money. If only the Barclays had showed some more urgency about paying their debts before the Telegraph was repossessed by Lloyds back in June, Lord Rothermere must be wondering.
Lloyds will no doubt be keen to grab the money and run, as£1.2bn is far more than any other bidder is likely to pay. But first the UK Government will need to decide whether it is OK for the house newspaper of the Conservative Party to be owned by UAE-based money.
The outsized bid would suggest more than merely financial considerations are at play.
My hunch is that, as with Rupert Murdoch's bid for The Times in 1981, if sufficient guarantees of editorial independence are provided - the bid will be approved. And while the approval process might be messy, the prize for Lloyds of getting all its money back may be worth the risk.
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Ecosystem of a Story – November 28 2023
Introduction to Data Journalism – December 6 2023
Newsroom Resilience – January 16 2024
AI in the Newsroom – January 23 2024
Solutions Journalism – January 30 2024
New from Press Gazette
Failings in police-media relations exposed by Nicola Bulley review
Review says non-reportable background briefings could have been used effectively.
Mirror article accusing James Dyson of ‘screwing country’ was ‘vitriolic’, libel trial told
The publisher argues an honest person “could self-evidently have held the opinion”.
Prince Harry to ask ministers for permission to use Leveson documents in Mail case
Lawyer David Sherborne will ask the Government to vary restrictions on Leveson material.
Guardian gets around readers who reject cookies with new advertising product
Publisher encourages advertisers to look past the "tofu and oat milk" stereotype of its audience.
Explained: Why Telegraph sale has been paused after RedBird IMI deal with Barclays
The auction process was paused on Tuesday afternoon (21 November) to avoid any further confusion, or waste of time and money, on the parts of other interested bidders until the situation becomes clear either way.
Podcast 60: How to make local news pay with Newsquest CEO Henry Faure Walker
Last year UK regional news giant Newsquest made £40m in pre-tax profits on turnover of £190m.
This year it is tracking to have ad revenue broadly flat over two years.
CEO Henry Faure Walker spoke to Dominic Ponsford about how the publisher of 200+ titles is bucking the trend on both audience and advertising revenue decline. He also shed light on some fascinating experiments using generative AI in the newsroom.
News in brief
Forbes sale to ‘youngest self-made billionaire’ Austin Russell is off after deadline missed (Press Gazette)
The Irish News has appointed a senior Reach journalist to be its new editor. Chris Sherrard is currently editor-in-chief of Reach Ireland, overseeing its print and digital brands on the island including the Daily Mirror, Irish Daily Star and Belfast Live. (Press Gazette)
DC Thomson has made a "very generous" donation to a fundraiser to help keep the University of Stirling's student newspaper The Brig in print. The 54-year-old title said the total crowdfunding of more than £2,000 would be a "game changer". (Gofundme)
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer promises to finally scrap Section 40 saying it has hung over media like Sword of Damocles for too long. (UK Gov)
The Times declares "Lord Rothermere is right" in a leader about the risk of AI in news: "the threat to original reporting hits more than just the pockets of newspaper owners or those producing original digital content: it is... a threat to democracy". (The Times)
Sinn Féin is taking legal action against The Irish Times and political correspondent Harry McGee over a story about the party's response to the Hamas attack on Israel. RSF said it is the latest "intimidation" by the party against the media and must stop. (RSF.org)
Previously on Press Gazette
Data privacy and advertising: How marketers are ‘killing democracy’
Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall wounded outside Kyiv honoured by Zelensky
GB News launches paid membership scheme with events, paywalled video and crosswords
Platform profile: How to reach the 70 million people using Snapchat for news
