IPSO rules against Reach over clickbait | National World take-over approved
Plus two major developments in publisher legal fights against AI copyright theft and GB News is facing a huge backlash over a presenter comment about the term LGBTQ+
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Friday 14 February.
Press regulator IPSO has made it clear that misleading clickbait-style online headlines are a breach of the Editors' Code following a ruling against Reach-owned Birmingham Mail.
It follows a complaint over two stories, one of which was headlined: "State pensioners issued NEW update over free bus passes being 'scrapped' by Labour".
The update was, in fact, that the Government had no plans to withdraw the scheme.
It's the sort of ‘curiosity gap’ headline which works well on Google Discover, the smartphone news aggregation app which is now the biggest source of referral traffic across the Reach network.
Reach argued that the quotation marks meant the headline was within the letter of the law. But IPSO ruled that the headline on this, and another story, were “actively misleading”.
The misleading headline remains on Birmingham Live, albeit with a clarification directly underneath.
And a version of the same story still appears on Glasgow Live and MSN with a similar headline: “Pensioners issued new update over Labour Government's plan to scrap bus passes”.
These syndicated versions of the same article are unchanged despite the IPSO ruling.
The takeover of the UK's third largest regional news publisher National World by major shareholder Media Concierge was voted through last night meaning it looks like curtains for founder and CEO David Montgomery.
GB News is at the centre of a huge new row after a presenter suggested that paedophiles were included in the term LGBTQ+. It is a comment which many have found grossly offensive and has led to more than 60,000 complaints. GB News said the comment has been taken out of context.
The battle over the unauthorised use of news content continues to rage with an alliance of major publishers suing Canadian AI start-up Cohere Inc.
And Thomson Reuters has won a first AI copyright victory in the courts, against Ross Intelligence which copied its legal data.
Some 85 of these deaths were caused by the Israeli military and in ten cases the CPJ believes victims were deliberately targeted by the IDF because they were journalists.
It is astonishing that a democracy has been able to put the likes of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in the shade when it comes to attacking the media.
On Press Gazette
Two Birmingham Live headlines ‘actively misleading’ says IPSO
Clickbait headlines on two Birmingham Live stories were breach of Editors' Code.
Thomson Reuters wins ‘fair use’ AI copyright ruling
Actual copying' in some summaries was 'so obvious that no reasonable jury could find otherwise'.
‘More than 60,000’ complain over GB News LGBTQ+ ‘paedos’ comment
The Good Law Project says it will present more than 60,000 complaints it has collected to Ofcom next week.
National World shareholders approve acquisition by Media Concierge
The deal is expected to go into effect on 7 March.
News in brief
Former editor Greg Hadfield has pleaded not guilty to the charge of sending an indecent message after sharing a pornographic post on X posted from the account of former Labour MP Ivor Caplin. He stands trial in June. (Brighton and Hove News)
14 major publishers - from Guardian to Forbes, Politico to Conde Nast - join lawsuit against Canadian AI start-up Cohere. (Press Gazette)
The members of the Pulitzer Prize board have lost a motion to dismiss President Trump's case against them on jurisdictional grounds. (Press Gazette)
News UK will acquire Bauer’s share of their digital audio ad venture. Octave will continue with "no immediate impact" on clients. (Press Gazette)
Most major US news outlets say they will keep referring to the Gulf of Mexico, by itself or alongside an acknowledgment that the US government is calling it the Gulf of America. The Associated Press was just banned from a White House press briefing for refusing to change its style guide and the agency accused the White House of violating the First Amendment.
Super Bowl game day articles generated 3.5 million page views in the UK according to Taboola, up 60% from 2.2 million last year. This compares to more than 31 million in the US. In the UK, half-time performer Kendrick Lamar generated 700,000 PVs, Taylor Swift generated one million and Travis Kelce got 800,000.
The Mail said it had its biggest-ever day for sports traffic in the US on Sunday due to the Super Bowl, after the same milestone in 2023 and 2024. It said its coverage pulled in 3.6 million page views - one million more than last year's Super Bowl - and almost 10.5 million globally over the weekend.
Reddit blamed a "swing down" in users in Q4 on a Google search algorithm change but said search-related traffic has recovered since. (CNBC)
Morning Brew co-founder and chief executive Austin Rief is stepping down amid its tenth anniversary and will become executive chairman. COO and CRO Robert Dippell will become CEO as the publisher eyes $70m in revenue. (Adweek)
The head of MI5 rang BBC director-general Tim Davie in an attempt to get a story about an allegedly abusive agent pulled, it has emerged. The service also admitted providing false information to the court while trying to stop the BBC from publishing details. (The Telegraph)
Los Angeles Times journalist James Queally writes that he has been "hit by tear gas and arrested for this paper, and what we’re going through now is demonstrably worse" amid staff buyouts and statements from the owner that "mispresent our work". (The Guild Eagle)
Diddy has filed a $100m defamation lawsuit against NBCUniversal and Peacock over a documentary that made allegations of sexual assault. His attorney claimed it was aired "at the expense of truth, decency, and basic standards of professional journalism". (USA Today)
The NCTJ will develop a new training resource providing safety guidance for journalists which will be available to all through the Journalism Skills Academy. News organisations were "caught unaware" by threats to journalists during last summer's riots. (NCTJ)
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