Journalist faces charge for highlighting MP's porn tweet | Forbes execs interview
Plus we have your news diary for the week ahead and the newspaper ABCs for December
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Monday 20 January.
The question of when police should get involved in the output of journalists on social media has again been thrown into focus.
Greg Hadfield, a former digital development director of the Telegraph (now retired), has been summoned to court to answer a criminal charge after drawing attention to the pornographic output of the Ivor Caplin account on X.
Caplin is a former Labour MP and defence minister who held a senior position in the Labour Party as recently as 2021.
Hadfield contends he is a whistleblower who has been unfairly targeted. Police offered him the chance to accept a caution, which he rejected, so he will now have to argue the case in court.
Today we also have an interview with the senior leadership team at business title Forbes (including new CEO Sherry Phillips) who explain how the title is making money out of events, online subscriptions and direct sold online advertising.
The latest print newspaper ABC figures show the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday leading the chart and keeping annual circulation decline in single figures (an impressive achievement in the current market).
And we have your news diary for the week ahead which kicks off with the inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th president of the United States today. Tomorrow sees the start of the High Court trial in which The Sun faces Prince Harry over claims of illegal newsgathering.
On Press Gazette
Greg Hadfield
Journalist faces criminal charge for highlighting porn shared by former MP on X
Hadfield was visited at home by police officers in September 2024 and asked about his output on X. He was then interviewed under caution at a local police station.
How Forbes makes money: Business title’s leaders explain diversification strategy
“From an editorial side, we really focus on the exclusive stories and the one-on-one connections that we create with these individuals… I think the Billionaires [ranking] is probably the easiest example to see that — we’re not just talking about Elon Musk, we’re talking to Elon Musk.”
Newspaper ABCs: Daily Mail avoids month-on-month print drop in December
On a year-on-year basis, The i Paper saw the smallest decline among paid-for papers while the biggest drop was at the Daily Star Sunday followed by The Sunday People.
News diary 20 – 26 January: Trump inaugurated, Israel-Hamas ceasefire begins, The Sun faces Prince Harry in court
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Dotdash Meredith is cutting 143 jobs but plans to "significantly" increase investment in food, entertainment and its ad tech arm D/Cipher. (Press Gazette)
Redundancies are also being made in The Wall Street Journal's London office as it proposes to close "a small number of beats that have a narrower focus, or where we have adequate global coverage in other bureaus". (Press Gazette)
Press freedom organisations urged Joe Biden to pardon Julian Assange before the end of his presidency today, saying the Wikileaks founder's plea deal continues to suggest that in the US "gathering and disseminating information from sources can be a crime". (Freedom of the Press Foundation)
CNN was on Friday found to have defamed a US Navy veteran identified in a story about a "black market" for smuggling people out of Afghanistan. The broadcaster was ordered to pay $5m in compensatory damages and reached a settlement over punitive damages. (CBS News)
Reach says trading in Q4 was "strong" and that as a result it expects its full-year results to be above the previous market expectation of a £97.8m adjusted operating profit. (Reach)
The Guardian is partnering with Manchester's Science and Industry Museum for a free exhibition, set to run for a year from early 2027, about the role of slavery in the growth of the city. The exhibition will be part of the Scott Trust's Legacies of Enslavement programme, which aims to atone for the early Guardian’s links to the slave trade.
Matt Brittin, who in October stepped down after ten years as Google's president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has joined the board of Guardian Media Group. Before joining Google Brittin spent some of his career in media, including as Trinity Mirror's commercial director.
Also on Press Gazette:
Sam McBride on making journalism worth paying for at the Belfast Telegraph
Who’s suing AI and who’s signing: Major deals with Google, OpenAI and Mistral start year
Six things publishers should do now to protect themselves from AI scrapers
Alamy sends journalist £460 bill for posting link to their own story
Youtube tips for publishers: Consistency, niche, SEO and community building
How The Sun became biggest UK newspaper on Youtube with 6 million subscribers
Biggest news publishers on Youtube: 100+ publishers have more than 1m subscribers
Latest podcast
Podcast 81: AI tipping point in 2025: What publishers need to know
Former digital development director of The Sun Paul Hood has just quit his job to study generative AI full time.
He explained why AI in the media is set to reach a tipping point in 2025 and start to fundamentally change the business. He also reveals some of the practical steps publishers should take to ensure they can capitalise on the opportunities AI presents and avoid some major pitfalls.