Justin Webb trans row | Guardian Dan Wootton apology | Beth Rigby interview
And 30 news organisations signal solidarity with Gaza journalists
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Friday, 1 March.
More journalists have been killed by the Israeli military in a few months of activity in the tiny territory of Gaza than were killed in the entire world in 2022.
According to the CPJ, 94 journalists have been killed since October during the Israel-Hamas war with 92 dying at the hands of the IDF.
Today we also have the latest on the extraordinary story of Dan Wootton, the GB News presenter and former showbiz journalist who last year was the subject of a Byline Times investigation.
Wootton has always denied breaking the law and is now claiming that all those who reported he was under police investigation breached his privacy. The Guardian has already apologised and made a payout to Wootton and other publications and high-profile Twitter users are in his sights.
Meanwhile, Today presenter Justin Webb has been found to have breached BBC impartiality rules by making the statement: “trans women, in other words males”. It is not the first time Webb has found himself in the firing line over his handling of this particular culture wars hot potato.
We speak to Sky’s Beth Rigby about the launch of her all-woman, all-star political podcast.
And we have a report from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal which is investigating a 2018 case in which UK police abused their powers to target journalists and their sources.
Scroll on for more news, our nibs rounding up media news from around the web, our latest podcast AND links to stories you may have missed from earlier in the week on Press Gazette.
Have a great weekend when you get there!
Jobs of the week:
New from Press Gazette
BBC upholds complaint against Today presenter Justin Webb for saying trans women are males
The executive complaints unit ruling has been discussed with Webb and the Today team.
Guardian makes apology and payment to Dan Wootton after privacy complaint
Commentator Marina Purkiss now also facing privacy complaint over Dan Wootton social media post.
Police ‘mounted surveillance op’ after journalists’ arrest in bid to find source
Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney are still finding out new allegations of police surveillance against them.
Sky’s Beth Rigby on her bid to get all-woman podcast in politics top ten
The Sky News political editor is launching the Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidson.
Sun cleared by IPSO over report of claim Hamas ‘beheaded babies’ on 7 October
Sun reported disputed incident as a claim, regulator finds.
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition (promoted)
Many PA Media customers rely on print revenue, but the agency is helping them transition to digital.
News in brief
Facebook has said it will stop making payments to publishers in Australia this year, three years after the News Bargaining Code forced tech giants to pay around £100m a year to publishers. It will also switch off the news tab. (The Guardian)
The Intercept, Raw Story and Alter Net are the latest news outlets to sue OpenAI over training data used for ChatGPT. The Intercept's CEO said: "As newsrooms… are decimated by financial imperatives to cutback, OpenAI reaps the benefits of our content." (The Daily Beast)
32 European media groups including Axel Springer and Schibsted are bringing a €2.1bn lawsuit against Google alleging they suffered losses from its digital ad practices creating a less competitive market. Google labelled it "speculative and opportunistic". (Reuters)
The Guardian has launched a "deeply read" list alongside its "most viewed" ranking on its homepage to show the articles readers are spending most time with (per length of article, so it's not skewed to long pieces only). (The Guardian)
The BBC has revealed it is running 12 pilots for using generative AI including translating news content to make it available for more people, reformatting existing content between formats for example from radio to text, and a headline helper and article summariser. (BBC)
Leaders from more than 30 global news organisations have signed an open letter organised by the Committee to Protect Journalists to share solidarity with Palestinian journalists. Bosses at ITN, ITV News, The Independent, AP, AFP, BBC, FT, Guardian, Irish Times, CNN, New York Times and the Washington Post are among the signatories. (Press Gazette)
Substack has introduced a direct messaging feature. DMs may be opened to everyone, to users you are connected with, or used as a perk for paying or founding subscribers. (Substack)
Mehdi Hasan says he has raised $4m to launch his own digital media company, Zeteo, which will launch in April on Substack. (Washington Post)
The New York Times is conducting a leak investigation after a report in The Intercept about the editorial process behind an as-yet unaired episode of The Daily podcast addressing claims of sexual violence by Hamas on 7 October. (Vanity Fair)
Nottinghamshire Live has decided to publish details from a "non-disclosable" briefing about police contact with murderer Valdo Calocane, saying it is "strongly in the public interest and we have been prevented from reporting important information". (Nottinghamshire Live)
Mail Online has a new feature called Mailbox in which readers can submit questions to be answered by its star columnists - Peter Hitchens was the first to do so yesterday. (Mail Online)
The parent company of black women's lifestyle magazine Essence is reportedly in talks to acquire Vice Media's Refinery29. (Wall Street Journal)
US nonprofit the Center for Public Integrity is reportedly considering merging with a competitor or shuttering after it saw turnover more than 40% below budget in 2023. It comes the same month the CEO left and the board eliminated the editor-in-chief role. (New York Times)
Campaign group British Broadcasting Challenge has written to the CEO of Ofcom calling for inquiries into GB News' editorial practices/output and whether it is fit and proper to hold a licence following revelations about investor Sir Paul Marshall's Twitter likes/retweets. (Pat Younge on Twitter)
News agency Jam Press gave staff the day off yesterday to mark leap year day 29th February. CEO Ben Nicholls said: "We see this as a small gesture of appreciation for the hard work, commitment, and resilience each team member has shown."
Channel 4 News gained access to Iran for the first time in four years and aired a special programme from Krishnan Guru-Murthy and a small team in Tehran on Wednesday ahead of the parliamentary elections today.
Latest podcast
Podcast 66: Online advertising – how publishers can survive a tsunami of change
Online advertising used to support investigative journalism at digital-native brands such as Buzzfeed News and Vice. In the space of just a few years everything has changed, and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs as a result.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford talks to former Business Insider editor-in-chief Jim Edwards about what is going on and how publishers should adapt to an online publishing ecosystem which is being rocked by a tsunami of disruptive change.
This week on Press Gazette
Just say ‘yes’ to cookies: Five ways to save quality journalism on the open web
Paying for local news online: Paywalled US local news titles ranked
The Duopoly may have peaked, but watch out – here comes Amazon
Newsquest and Reach bosses respond to questions over local news quality
UK publishers tell Parliament: Stop AI using our content without permission
As subscriber growth flattens ‘all you can read’ magazine app Readly moves into profit
Centre for Journalism being sacrificed to fill University of Kent funding gap
News Media Association chairman confident UK government will act on big tech this year
Revealed: Which of the top 100 UK and US news websites are blocking AI crawlers