Media rich list 2025 | Reach names its journalists of the year
Plus: Press Gazette is hiring
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette news briefing on Tuesday 29 April, brought to you today in association with PA Media.
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This morning we salute the brave men and women who have risen to the top of the greasy media pole by making it onto our annual rich list of top earners.
Our News Media Rich List is based on publicly-available data and reveals the CEOs and others at media companies in the news and information space who are paid £400,000 a year or more.
If we counted talent, there would be a few BBC presenters on there, including Gary Lineker, Zoe Ball and, ahem, Huw Edwards.
But we have just focused on executive pay for the latest financial year available.
Business information is probably the least glamorous end of the business. Lord knows what RELX chief executive Erik Engstrom tells people he does at parties. But with total pay last year of £13.5m he probably doesn't let it bother him too much because providing data, tools and insights to help businesses make better decisions has given him a Premier League footballer-style salary.
BBC chief executive Tim Davie is 45th on the list despite running the UK's second biggest news media organisation by revenue (so probably deserves a pay rise).
Check out the full ranking here.
Today I would also like to tip my hat to some folk at the other end of the media pay scale, the hard-working journalists at Reach.
The UK's largest commercial news publisher by audience gets criticised for content-growth tactics which can feel a bit clickbait-y at times. So it was great to see it celebrate and encourage quality content with its inaugural Celebrating Brilliant Journalism Awards.
But special mention should go to Robert Fisk of the Daily Express (not to be confused with the late foreign correspondent with the same name).
Fisk has incurable bowel cancer himself but continues to produce great journalism, campaigning for fellow cancer patients and exposing "witch doctors" selling scam cures.
And finally if you'd like to do one of the most important and enjoyable jobs in the world - reporting on and influencing the global news business - please drop me a line. Press Gazette is recruiting a reporter/features writer. Salary on offer means this job would probably suit an early career journalist, but we would consider offering it to a more senior person as a part-time role.
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On Press Gazette
Clockwise from top-left: RELX CFO Nick Luff (picture: RELX on Youtube); Informa boss Stephen Carter (picture: Informa video results statement); Autotrader Group CEO Nathan Coe (picture: 60 Second Careers on Youtube); ITV CEO Carolyn McCall (picture: RTS on Youtube)
UK news media rich list 2025: Business information chiefs top executive pay table
In this year’s ranking 54% of the executives for whom prior year pay information is available saw their overall compensation rise, compared with 61% last year.
Cancer-campaign journalist among winners at new Reach awards
Other winners included long-form writer of the year Andrew Bardsley for work including an investigation into Manchester’s (literally) crumbling justice system and Rising Star winner Emily Ferguson of the Express, for her exclusive interview with Duchess Sophie and Prince Edwards.
News in brief
Press Gazette is recruiting a reporter/feature writer. Please apply ASAP with a CV and short (300-500 word) covering email letter explaining why you would be a good fit for this role and setting out any ideas you have stories you would like to cover for Press Gazette. (Press Gazette)
Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon is stepping down after eight years this summer. Chief operating officer Jonathan Allen will be interim CEO while a recruitment process takes place. (Televisual)
A BBC workplace review has found the broadcaster does not have a "toxic" culture but has found improvements that can be made such as taking quicker action against staff when needed. (ITV News)
Business Insider has appointed Jeff Rabb as chief product officer, joining from The Atlantic where he held the same role. At BI he will "create a sharpened product vision, accelerate our smart use of AI..." (Business Insider)
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The title launched in Washington in 2007 and has been in Europe since 2015. It now has 350 staff in Europe with 45 journalists in the UK alone. Day explained how the brand's mixed B2B and consumer business model works and revealed more about its further expansion plans.