Mirror journalists get page-view targets | Climate change scepticism dying out in UK media
Plus we have the latest ranking of the 50 most-visited news sites in the US and your news diary for the week ahead
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Monday 13 January.
Reporters on Reach's flagship national newspaper brand have been given individual online page-view targets.
It is a move which has prompted concern amongst some that it will lead to lower editorial standards or become a metric which could be called upon in future rounds of job cuts.
Page views is seen as a metric that can encourage headlines which stray from being merely sensational to becoming clickbait (so hinting at far more than the story delivers).
But Reach editorial bosses insist that page views are the best currency because they deliver the online ad revenue upon which the company's future depends.
One challenge is how to deliver more page views in a way which does not denude the print product. The Daily Mirror only sells 200,000 copies per day (down from more than one million a decade ago and two million 20 years ago). But print readers (who now pay £1.70 per day to read the Mirror) deliver most of the revenue for Reach.
Today we also report on research revealing that by and large UK national newspapers no longer provide a platform for journalism which disputes the fact man-made climate change is real. However, some titles are increasingly sceptical about the need to take action in order to slow or halt global warming.
And our latest ranking of US news websites shows The New York Times lengthening its lead versus CNN, with specialist sites Athlon Sports and The Cooldown (about climate change) the two fastest-growers in the top 50.
On Press Gazette
Mirror journalists given individual online page-view targets
Press Gazette understands that some print specialist reporters covering more serious news fear they will find it hard to hit page-view targets when competing against those writing ‘trending’ content based on the latest viral social media trends.
Climate change scepticism almost extinct from UK national press
Climate science website Carbon Brief (which is funded by the European Climate Foundation) has found in its own annual analysis of UK newspaper editorials that 2024 was the third record-breaking year in a row in terms of the number of editorials opposing action on climate change.
Top 50 news websites in the US: New York Times extends its lead
Among the ten most-visited news sites in the US only three sites had a busier December than November: Yahoo Finance, aggregator Google News and celebrity and human interest magazine People.
News diary 13 – 19 January: Tiktok ban deadline, Starmer unveils AI plan
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Huffpost editor-in-chief Danielle Belton announced plans to cut more than 30 editorial roles on Tuesday. Two days later, she told staff she would also leave. "I could not, in good faith, ask others to make this difficult decision without doing the same." (Press Gazette)
Vox Media has also reportedly laid off 12 people, saying it will help the company to be “more focused”. (Press Gazette)
The UK Government is considering stopping MPs having paid media jobs such as presenting regularly for the likes of GB News or LBC. Commons leader Lucy Powell told The Observer they will consider the reputational risk of "paid exclusive contracts with media companies – which might give rise to perceived conflicts". (The Observer)
The NUJ is seeking assurances that Shutterstock contributors will be allowed to opt out of their images being used in Getty's AI generator function. It is also calling for a commitment to pay "decent and sustainable" prices for images. (Press Gazette)
Bauer Media Audio UK is buying independent station Star Radio in Cambridgeshire and will rebrand it under its Hits Radio franchise - but news and information will remain local as per regulatory conditions. (Radio Today)
New York Magazine reports a wave of departures from The Washington Post "has grown so great that Matt Murray, the Post’s interim executive editor, put a stop to newsroom-wide goodbye emails because he believed it was bad for morale — before reversing course". (New York Magazine)
Daily Mail US has made several big hires including weekend editor of its expanded features department and its first real life correspondent. It's also launching a real estate section to cover "celebrity homes, unique properties and boom markets". (Mediapost)
Global fact-checking organisations have signed an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg calling Meta's plan to end fact-checking in the US "a step backward for those who want to see an internet that prioritizes accurate and trustworthy information". (Poynter)
Fortune has retracted a story in which it reported Elon Musk had raised the idea of ditching date and time stamps on X posts in the main feed and charging new users $8. The brand said that after publication it “learned that a source that was central to this story had intentionally misled our reporter over a series of exchanges”. (Fortune)
The Arizona Local News Foundation has raised $2m in philanthropic funding to allow 15 local newsrooms to expand their coverage of education. (Arizona Media Association)
A Bloomberg tech journalist, Ashlee Vance, has left to start subscriber-based media brand Core Memory, "telling the best stories in science and technology" via long-form writing, podcasts and video. He has made two hires and says more are coming. (Core Memory)
Also on Press Gazette:
News media trends for 2025: AI threats, Google search decline and subs slowdown
Bauer Media Group pays $625m for outdoor advertising business
The UK’s biggest news media companies: New top 50 ranking by revenue
Update: Journalists to be able to report from any family court in England and Wales
What Google’s C$100m payout to Canada news industry means for publishers elsewhere
Research, personalisation and automation: What AI can do for publishers
Donald Trump versus the press: His ‘campaign of legal intimidation’ tracked
Meta fact-checking partner calls end of scheme ‘a backwards step’
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