News Corp results | BBC asks Huw Edwards to return cash | Sun editor on Edwards story
Plus a BBC journalist is targeted following riots after a misleadingly edited clip goes viral and we have your news diary for the week ahead
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday 12 August, 2024 (we’re back following a two-week summer break).
The BBC is belatedly trying to turn the page on the Huw Edwards fiasco by seeking the return of £200,000 paid to him following his arrest in November last year.
And Sun editor Victoria Newton has now said the title finely balanced the public interest before publishing allegations against a then un-named BBC newsreader just over a year ago.
In the days when The Sun was going it alone on the Huw Edwards story it was a lonely position, she admits.
When Edwards was named and it was revealed that he had been hospitalised because of his mental health just over a year ago, campaign group Hacked Off said: “This episode demonstrates the extraordinary power the press has to inflict harm against people, and underlines the urgent need for an independent system of regulation as recommended in the Leveson Report.”
But in fact, the episode has revealed the vital watchdog role the tabloid press can still play in holding those in power to account.
Newton has now revealed that The Sun published the Edwards revelations partly because it was aware of allegations suggesting a pattern of behaviour which involved abuse of his position as the BBC’s best paid and leading journalist dating back some years.
It is a story which leaves The Sun’s reporting vindicated and the BBC with many more questions to answer.
Meanwhile, the latest News Corp results show The Sun facing a falling online audience due to to “platform related changes”, i.e. falling referral traffic from Facebook and Google search. Overall, revenue at News UK (which includes The Times titles, Talksport and Talkradio) was down 5% in the year to June 2024 - not helped by eye-watering losses made by TalkTV.
The News Corp results also reveal CEO Robert Thomson is upbeat about a licensing deal with OpenAI which is said to be worth $250m over five years. The company is also taking “legal steps”, he said, against rival AI companies who have taken the publisher’s content without permission.
It is a relief to see the UK riots live blogs stood down, hopefully for the rest of summer. BBC journalist Phillip Norton was one of many reporters to find themselves under attack for reporting on the unrest. He has revealed how he was on the receiving end of days of personal attacks after a misleading edit of one of his reports was viewed millions of times on X.
New from Press Gazette
News Corp has begun legal moves against ‘AI aggressors’, CEO reveals
Robert Thomson said the 2023/24 financial year had been “an outstanding year for News Corp, as we not only delivered robust earnings growth and created substantial shareholder value, but took a significant step to prepare the company to prosper in the AI age”.
Sun editor Victoria Newton felt ‘quite lonely’ during Huw Edwards story scandal
“The problem for us was a big one, because everyone was saying we must have made this story up.”
BBC asks Huw Edwards to return salary paid after his arrest
A statement from the corporation’s board said that if Edwards had “been upfront when asked by the BBC about his arrest, we would never have continued to pay him public money” and added he had “undermined trust in the BBC and brought us into disrepute”.
BBC journalist received ‘defamatory and highly personal attacks’ over ‘out of context’ riot clip
The BBC said Norton “clearly attributed” the “pro-British” phrase, “making it plain this is how the protest in Bolton had been advertised by the organisers”.
News diary 12-18 August: Elon Musk interviews Donald Trump, Taylor Swift returns to London
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Telegraph sale latest: Lord Saatchi's £350m bid rejected and Sir Paul Marshall reported as frontrunner to buy The Spectator. (Press Gazette)
The Telegraph was in breach of the Editors’ Code when it published data claiming cyclists were doing 52 miles per hour and “putting lives at risk”, IPSO has ruled. (Press Gazette)
Sky News has promoted head of digital output Nick Sutton to director of platforms. (Press Gazette)
Liverpool Echo editor Maria Breslin has said a member of her team was "attacked, had quite expensive equipment stolen, glasses broken, left with cuts and bruises" on the first night of violence in Southport. (Press Gazette)
The NUJ has written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council to say police should not be trying to "strong-arm" photographers and videographers to hand over images of the riots after reports South Yorkshire Police threatened a photographer with a court order. (NUJ)
Elon Musk deleted a post sharing a 'screenshot' purporting to show a Telegraph article headlined: "Keir Starmer considering building 'emergency detainment camps' on the Falkland Islands." The Telegraph said "no such article" has ever been published by it.
It followed The Washington Post last week having to deny it had prepared an article saying whoever was Kamala Harris's pick for VP was "the perfect choice" after another fake screenshot.
Our latest podcast
Bonnier News CEO on power of bundles and personalisation
Sweden’s biggest news publisher Bonnier News has more than tripled profits in the past eight years and doubled revenue.
It now believes a subscription bundle, putting together all of its Swedish brands and harnessing AI to better personalise what users see, will be the way forward for continued revenue growth.
Bonnier News chief executive Anders Eriksson told Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt about the business transformation he has overseen and the internal culture change needed to do so, why Nordic countries are ahead on subscriptions, and the thinking behind the bundle subscription strategy.
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