GB News begins first redundancy round | Start-up Sherwood News bets ads still pay
Plus: Pippa Crerar and Beth Rigby on newspapers' impact on the upcoming general election, and we have your news diary for the week ahead
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday 22 April.
GB News has announced a major round of cutbacks as it seeks to curb losses so far of more than £76m.
The news channel has exceeded expectations in terms of its impact online and on air but it still seems a long way from reaching sustainability. Sadly, in 2024 finding an audience is no guarantee of enough money to pay the bills for newsbrands.
In 2023 GB News spent nearly £50m whilst earning just £7m. The channel hopes that US expansion and an online paywall may help put it on the road to break even. In the meantime it must rely on the patience and support of its major shareholders, Legatum Ventures and Sir Paul Marshall, and its creditors.
Meanwhile in the US we spoke to the co-founder of The Verge, Joshua Topolsky, about why he is betting that his new 36-strong outlet Sherwood News can find a future for quality business journalism without a paywall.
(Last week we spoke to the founder of The Cool Down, a US online newsbrand that is said to be making $5m per year from programmatic advertising providing a solutions journalism-based approach to writing about global warming).
Today we also hear from Pippa Crerar and Beth Rigby on why traditional journalism will still set the agenda in this UK general election year.
And we have your news diary for the week ahead, which includes Angela Rayner standing in for Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday and polling in the Indian general election.
New from Press Gazette
Trading platform bets on ad-funded business journalism with Sherwood News
Although Sherwood News is written with Robinhood users in mind, the publication’s editor-in-chief and president, Verge co-founder Joshua Topolsky, told Press Gazette that it had a broader eye on “an entire spectrum of younger, very savvy, very online audiences that are very interested in how money moves in the world”.
GB News begins redundancy round, seeking to cut 40 roles
The business is currently appealing for staff open to taking voluntary redundancy to come forward, offering up to two months’ salary and possible payment in lieu of notice as enticement.
Pippa Crerar: Newspaper front pages will still set general election political agenda
“The wooing of newspaper proprietors and editors in order to win endorsements might not be quite as pressing as it used to be,” she said, “but our coverage still absolutely sets the agenda.”
News diary 22-28 April: Lucy Letby appeal bid, Jeffrey Donaldson in court, Trump trial opens
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Update: A judge has denied a bid by News Group Newspapers to hold an initial trial on whether hacking claims being brought against it by Prince Harry and others are being brought too late. The judge said this would delay the overall trial too much and that it can be heard in January together with everything else. (Press Gazette)
California non-profit news outlet Cal Matters, which has 72 staff and around $12.5m in philanthropic funding, has bought The Markup, a non-profit site focused on tech and data privacy investigations with its own 28 staff and $5m in funding. (Axios)
A report into surveillance by the Police Service of Northern Ireland reportedly identifies up to nine incidents relating to journalists but it has been criticised for being vague. Three incidents were known about previously. (Irish News)
Electrical equipment was allegedly stolen from a journalist covering Prince William's visit to a youth centre in West London on Thursday afternoon. (Evening Standard)
Tiktok is testing a way to let publishers add links to videos, which could allow outlets that have built big audiences on the platform to directly convert them to on-site traffic for the first time. (Digiday)
Ladbible owner LBG Media says revenue was up 8% in 2023 to £67.5m while adjusted EBITDA was up 11% to £17.4m, although profit before tax was down 19% to £5.9m. It says it has a "clear line of sight to £200m of revenue" after its acquisition of US brand Betches. (LBG Media)
The Times has launched a year-long Crime and Justice Commission (following similar projects on Education and Health). The commission will consult widely, hold fortnightly evidence sessions and publish a report in a year's time with various recommendations.
Twitter alternative Post, which billed itself as a social platform built for news and promised publishers ways to monetise their content, is closing. Its founder said it "is not growing fast enough to become a real business or a significant platform". We explained what Post was aiming to do with publishers in a round-up of potential Twitter alternatives a year ago. (Post)
Channel 4 is the first broadcaster to set out plans for the general election, although a date has not been set. Emily Maitlis will co-present with Krishnan Guru-Murthy while The Rest Is Politics podcast hosts Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart will also appear. (Channel 4)
New York's state legislature has passed a journalism jobs tax credit for its 2025 budget. The credits will reportedly provide $30m in annual tax credits to cover half journalists' salaries, to a maximum of $50,000 a year. (Newsguild)
Previously on Press Gazette
Open Democracy could have been ‘insolvent by June’ without 40% cost reductions
The US website making ad-funded journalism about the environment work
National press ABCs: Mail on Sunday falls below 600,000 mark in March
Survey: Autism and ADHD widespread in media, but so is neurodiversity ignorance
Latest podcast
Podcast 69: How different minds can thrive in news media
Press Gazette editor Dominic Ponsford talks about exclusive new research on the prevalence of neurodiversity in news media. He also speaks to Times Radio journalist Darryl Morris and freelance journalist Lydia Wilkins about the benefits and challenges ADHD and autistic thinkers can bring to jobs in journalism.
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