Dan Wootton/Laurence Fox Ofcom ruling | Home affairs editors revolt
And Ben Smith on why Semafor is launching a Global Election Hub
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday, 4 March.
Breaking: Dan Wootton and GB News have been ruled to have breached Ofcom rules by allowing Laurence Fox to engage in a sexist and misogynistic on-air rant. Full story here.
Home affairs journalists are in revolt and have signed a letter of effective no-confidence in the Home Office PR team.
The move follows a slew of negative reports about immigration and asylum being released on the same day as the 361-page Angiolini Inquiry into the murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer.
The letter has been shared exclusively with Press Gazette and underlines two major current challenges for serious journalism.
1) Journalists don't have time to properly investigate and cover all the scandals they are being presented with, especially when reports are piled up en masse in this way.
2) Reporters complain about a creeping culture of government secrecy which they believe has infected government PR operations.
Meanwhile free, upmarket news website Semafor has deepened its sponsorship deal with tech giant Microsoft, which is backing the site's webpage for elections coverage around the world: the Semafor Global Election Hub. Semafor editor Ben Smith spoke to us about the page, which ranks elections according to their current (subjectively determined) importance, with India's legislative elections in April and May currently topping the list.
We report on an event in Parliament where the International Federation of Journalists warned that Israel could be deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza. More than 90 journalists have been killed by the Israeli Defence Force in recent months, more than were killed in the entire world in 2022.
Leading the news agenda in our news diary for the week ahead is Jeremy Hunt's budget statement on Wednesday, with major UK Gaza protests expected on Saturday and the Oscars on Sunday.
And finally, when was the last time you asked a colleague how they are feeling? Perhaps you should try it today. ITN chief Rachel Corp says the relentless news agenda of recent years has taken a toll on journalists' mental health and newsroom leaders can play their part by encouraging staff to open up.
New from Press Gazette
GB News and Dan Wootton broke Ofcom rules by allowing sexist Laurence Fox rant
Ofcom: “We have significant concerns about GB News’ editorial control of its live output.”
Semafor extends Microsoft sponsorship with global election hub
“I think broadly, what readers, actually, are looking for these days – in a period where the algorithms are all kind of spinning out and you have AI-generated content all over the place – is actually human editorial judgement.”
National media home affairs editors write joint letter of protest to Home Office PR team
A spokesperson for the Home Office said in response: “We have delivered on our commitment to publish the 13 outstanding reports that were delayed as quickly as possible, as the Home Affairs Select Committee and others have called for.”
‘Open up and talk about it’: ITN chief Rachel Corp on newsroom mental health
“I can’t see an era where we’re putting our feet up in August thinking its silly season and scratching around for stories.”
Concerns raised Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza
Tim Dawson, a former president of the National Union of Journalists, said spyware is being used to track and attack IDF targets including, he believes, journalists.
News diary 4-10 March: Jeremy Hunt presents Spring Budget, Jimmy Kimmel hosts Oscars
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
According to SE Ranking research, news and politics queries are among the least likely to get an SGE (search generative experience) response in Google. The top sites linked in all SGE responses were Quora, Google Local, Wikipedia, Investopedia and Linkedin. (SE Ranking)
Australia's prime minister is "very concerned" about Meta's plan to pull out of paying news media for their content in the country and said his government would "work through all available options under the News Media Bargaining Code" and "respond in the national interest". (Financial Times)
The Public Interest News Foundation will run the first Indie News Week in June, under which it will match money raised by participating not-for-profit publishers through the new Indie News Fund. (PINF)
BBC News has introduced a new way to tell readers "how we verified this" on images and videos and can embed the information within the file itself to help counter disinformation when the content is shared outside the BBC's own platforms. (BBC News)
Latest podcast
Podcast 66: Online advertising – how publishers can survive a tsunami of change
Online advertising used to support investigative journalism at digital-native brands such as Buzzfeed News and Vice. In the space of just a few years everything has changed, and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs as a result.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford talks to former Business Insider editor-in-chief Jim Edwards about what is going on and how publishers should adapt to an online publishing ecosystem which is being rocked by a tsunami of disruptive change.
This week on Press Gazette
Sky’s Beth Rigby on her bid to get all-woman podcast in politics top ten
BBC upholds complaint against Today presenter Justin Webb for saying trans women are males
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