Guardian makes case for accepting cookies | Andrew Neil slams GB News in Lords
And how investigative journalism outlet The Lever found subscriber success with stories on corruption
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday 24 April.
The Guardian has come up with an elegant solution to the "reject all" cookie messaging problem posed for news publishers by the UK Information Commissioner.
The ICO has told publishers that rejecting website personalisation cookies has to be at least as easy for readers as accepting them, prompting some to fear a big reduction in addressable advertising and so revenue.
The Guardian's new cookie messaging presents readers with the case for acceptance and then says: "Yes, I'm happy" and "No, thank you". It has also rolled out contextual ad-targeting technology called Guardian Light which is designed to work without cookies.
The new messaging is fairly soft compared to the 'accept cookies' or 'pay us some money now' option some UK publishers would like to present to readers. Updated guidance on whether this will be allowed is expected from the ICO in the next two months after a recent consultation process.
Today we also have all the gory details from the House of Lords, where Spectator chairman Andrew Neil has been shitbagging his former employer GB News.
And we have some positive news from the US, where investigative journalism website The Lever is nearly doubling its editorial team.
Its formula is to provide readers with one really good story a day about a niche that it says is "wide open" in the USA: corporate corruption.
It operates a combination of a reader donation and membership/subscription model not dissimilar to The Guardian’s.
Managing editor Joel Warner told us: "I've never been at an operation before that isn't either treading water furiously, or just going downhill. It's weird to be at an operation that is growing."
New from Press Gazette
Guardian makes rejecting tracking cookies easier as it promotes cookie-less solution
“The reality is that without the use of data to personalise advertising to readers, brands will spend less money on advertising with publishers like us. Less money generated from advertising means that we need to ask readers to contribute to funding our journalism directly.”
Andrew Neil says GB News can never be profitable on current path
Asked by peers how GB News might have looked today had he not left two weeks after the channel launched, Neil said: “First of all, the production values would have been much higher. It would not have looked as if it were coming from the nuclear bunker of the president of North Korea.”
The Lever gets reader backing to expose corporate corruption and grows editorial team
“We’ve found that the key to our success is actually surprisingly simple, which is when we put out good stories, we find success,” Warner said.
News in brief
Dow Jones brands Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Marketwatch have become the latest to join publishers' advertising alliance The Ozone Project, which sells premium advertising across hundreds of sites.
As a general election approaches, Ofcom says it is putting broadcasters who use politicians as presenters "on notice" that it "may consider the imposition of statutory sanctions" if due impartiality rules concerning election period broadcasts are breached. (Ofcom)
The Sun is suing ITN and ITV for breach of copyright for using the Princess Kate farm shop video on TV, the Telegraph reports. News UK paid a substantial sum for the video, which was filmed during a shopping trip by the Prince and Princess of Wales. (Daily Telegraph)
Previously on Press Gazette
‘Anti-trans narratives’ see Unherd put on advertising blacklist
ITV News hires Newsnight deputy as head of streaming service
Henry Winter launches Substack: ‘I’m going to Euros… but I’ll be in an Airbnb’
Pippa Crerar: Newspaper front pages will still set general election political agenda
Trading platform bets on ad-funded business journalism with Sherwood News
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