GB News Ofcom challenge allowed | Judge chides Harry and Sun publisher
Plus we have one of the final interviews given by Sir Harry Evans and your news diary for the week ahead
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette daily email newsletter on Monday, 7 October, brought to you today in association with Tickaroo - the liveblogging software trusted by more than 250 newsrooms worldwide.
Download their latest whitepaper, “Building Trust and Engagement this Election Season with Live Blogs”, today.
Four years on from the death of Sir Harry Evans we share some pearls of wisdom from the great man in one of his last interviews.
Then 89-year-old Evans said in 2018: "Realise what journalism ought to be. You haven’t succeeded in journalism if you’ve got a scoop by cheap and nasty means, or made somebody’s life miserable without cause.
"For journalists today, I would say first of all identify what journalism is for you, what are the objects of journalism. And the simple answer is the truth."
We also have updates on two significant media legal battles. GB News has been given permission by the High Court to challenge an Ofcom ruling against it. And there is an entertaining update from the judge in the Prince Harry versus News Group privacy and illegal newsgathering action.
The judge has urged the "two obdurate but well-resourced armies" to effectively get on with it and said the matter will either be heard in court in January next year or settled, come what may.
We also have your news diary for the week ahead. And more cultural luminaries have added their names to the campaign against The Observer being sold to Tortoise Media.
Harry Potter actress Miriam Margoyles and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber are among those who have called on Guardian Media Group and the Scott Trust to "retain the Observer as a key element of its seven-day print and online operation". There has not been such public kerfuffle over a company's publishing strategy since the last time GMG tried to get rid of The Observer (in 2009).
From our sponsor:
Engage your audience this election season.
This global election year has forced us to recognize that audiences want more than horse-race election coverage.
They crave news that enables agency and earns back their trust.
So, how can publishers do better?
While live blogs have been the go-to format for elections for many years, there are various ways to leverage this tool to connect with audiences rather than just updating them.
Discover numerous actionable strategies for doing this in Tickaroo’s Whitepaper: "Building Trust and Engagement this Election Season with Live Blogs."
On Press Gazette
Sir Harry Evans on chasing the devil and journalism diversity
Evans was most responsive when talking about how people on the Autistic spectrum can be an asset to journalism, noting there “is a whole spectrum there between people with highly specialised skills and certain social inabilities which can be overcome”.
GB News allowed to challenge Ofcom ruling at full High Court hearing
A High Court judge did refuse to temporarily block Ofcom from sanctioning the channel, but said the watchdog has already pledged not to publish its sanction until the case has been heard in full.
Harry vs Sun publisher: Battle between ‘two obdurate but well-resourced armies’
The judge wrote: “I have previously indicated to the parties that this individual claim… although it raises important issues, is starting to absorb more than an appropriate share of the court’s resources, contrary to the requirement in the overriding objective to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost.”
News diary 7-13 October: Tory leadership contest down to two, 7 October anniversary
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.
Press Gazette highlights
Reach CEO Jim Mullen: If government advertises with us, we’ll employ more reporters
Leading cultural figures attack Observer sale as staff pave way for strike action
Future closes titles and events deemed ‘low to no growth assets’
Paywalled podcasts: How New York Times is adding audio to subscriptions bundle
FT Weekend editor Janine Gibson: ‘This interview is a disaster’
News in brief
The chief commercial officer of The Standard James White has announced he is leaving the business after the publication of its second weekly print edition. (Press Gazette)
New York Sun owner Dovid Efune is set to agree a £550m+ deal to buy The Telegraph, the FT reports. He is an outspoken supporter of Israel and a former editor of Jewish title The Algemeiner. It is not yet known who his financial backers are. (Financial Times)
Google is adding ads to AI Overviews: they will have a sponsored label, appear in summaries alongside other content, and be drawn from advertisers' existing Google shopping and search campaigns. The tech giant is also rolling out "AI-organised" search results in the US. (Techcrunch)
A year after the October 7 attack on Israel, at least 128 journalists and media workers have been killed, nearly all by the Israeli military, according to the CPJ which keeps an interactive database on the killings. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
Half of people in the UK think sport and US politics get too much coverage while half think science stories don't get enough and 43% want more lighthearted stories, according to a Yougov poll. (Yougov)
The BBC has said an interview with Iranian academic Professor Mohammad Marandi during the Today programme on Tuesday amounted to a "lapse in our usual editorial standards" as he should have been challenged more. (BBC)
Google claims it would be "forced to stop" linking to news content in its search, Discover and News products in New Zealand and end its commercial agreements with NZ publishers if a proposed Australia-style law to make tech giants pay for news goes ahead. (Reuters)
Sky News political editor Beth Rigby has declined to interview Boris Johnson on stage at Cheltenham Literature Festival after being told the chat had to be off the record. (Rigby on X)
Naturalist Chris Packham has been left with a costs bill of nearly £200,000 after failing to sue a proofreader for Country Squire magazine, according to the Telegraph. He had previously won a libel case against an editor and writer for Country Squire. (The Telegraph)
The journalist whose reporting inspired two Hollywood films, Serpico (about police corruption) and Silkwood (about a nuclear whistleblower), has died aged 91. Former New York Times reporter David Burnham declined to be involved in the dramatisations. (Deadline)