Observer deal signed (but resistance continues) | Caroline Wheeler interview
Plus what publishers are doing about ad-blocking "dark traffic", how Perplexity is sharing revenue with the news and Media Concierge agrees a deal to buy National World
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 19 December.
Speaking somewhat selfishly, the Press Gazette team is relieved that two major news industry deals appear to have been concluded before Christmas - the sale of The Observer and the takeover of National World.
But that said they both have a little way to go.
The Tortoise Media takeover is just a "heads of terms agreement", so a deal in principle. (Correction: A Guardian Media Group clarification has now stated that a definitive Business Purchase Agreement, a legally-binding document, has been signed despite earlier reports of it being a heads of terms agreement (a formal intention to proceed). The heads of terms agreement was signed earlier in the process.) Completion of the ownership transfer won't happen until the spring.
In the meantime, Guardian management will continue to face a guerrilla campaign against the deal from its own staff who continue to raise awkward questions. Carole Cadwalladr last night published her own investigation into Tortoise Media's investors and advisors which will make uncomfortable reading for major shareholder James Harding.
Tortoise has still yet to reveal who exactly has fronted the £20m it plans to invest in The Observer. Harding will become the first national newspaper owner/editor we have seen in the UK for generations.
Meanwhile, Media Concierge has agreed a £65m offer for National World, the UK's third largest local news publisher, which looks set to be concluded early next year.
The deal could spell the end of the line for David Montgomery's leadership of the regional news giant which publishes more than 100 titles, making it the main provider of local news for large swathes of the UK.
Today we speak to journalist of the year Caroline Wheeler about her extraordinary campaign to secure justice for the victims of the infected blood scandal. Many journalists have written about and campaigned on this story but she really did play a key role in securing the promise of £12bn in compensation from the last government.
We also take a look at the ongoing problem of ad-blocking, which is continuing to deprive publishers of a huge amount of ad revenue, and explain what they can do about it.
And we speak to the head of publisher partnerships at generative AI company Perplexity about how it is already sharing revenue with news publishers.
That Perplexity even has a head of publisher partnerships is an encouraging sign and Jessica Chan explained how publishers can gain revenue and access to AI tech by working with them.
If you click through to Press Gazette today you may notice we are asking readers to sign in to access our content. I really hope you take the time to do this because it makes a big difference in helping us to sell sponsorship and so fund our journalism.
Thanks for reading our weekly Future of Media newsletter in 2024. We will have another daily newsletter tomorrow before we sign off for the Christmas break.
On Press Gazette
Caroline Wheeler at the British Journalism Awards. Picture:ASV Photography
Journalist of the year Caroline Wheeler on her 23-year crusade: ‘Never give up’
“I never got a front page out of the contaminated blood scandal until this year – it’s always been a story that’s been relegated to the middle pages or the feature pages. It does take enormous perseverance.”
Ad-blockers mean publishers missing out on ad revenue from one in five readers
Ad-Shield estimates that more than 700 million website users globally are currently unmeasured by publishers' analytics solutions because they are using one of hundreds of brutal ad-blockers, with an average of between 14% to 21% of a publisher's audience not getting reported.
How AI search tool Perplexity is sharing ad revenue with publishers
“We designed this programme to basically support publishers in the long term.”
Tortoise-Observer deal signed and Lucy Rock named print editor
During 2025, Tortoise said, it will “build the daily digital Observer in arts, ideas and news as well as The Observer’s own network of foreign reporters and contributing editors, a new business and economics team, expanded science, technology and health coverage and a dedicated sports desk”.
Media Concierge to take over National World, promising to invest in local news
Media Concierge already owns 27.8% of the company, but the deal must receive the approval of 75% of the other shareholders in order to be approved. Media Concierge says it has received irrevocable undertakings in respect of 65.9% of the the share capital it does not already own.
Press Gazette launches website registration wall
Press Gazette is now asking readers to share their email address, company and job title in order to read more than one article per month.
This week on Press Gazette
Sun editor Victoria Newton: ‘We are the number one scoop machine on Fleet Street’
Laura Kuenssberg on Boris Johnson slip-up: ‘I screwed up, there we go, next story’
Marie Colvin Award winner: Journalists in Gaza need and deserve a break
Funding push for first UK national journalists’ memorial launched
‘Paywalls safest way to guarantee journalistic jobs’ says Bloomberg editor in chief
Business Insider tech chief: AI lets us ‘punch above our weight class’
The Big Issue’s shift from street paper to campaigning digital title
Latest podcast
Podcast 80: What we learned in 2024 about the business of news
The Press Gazette team look back on the big themes of 2024 for news publishers and reveal what they have learned. They also share their predictions for 2025 which include: more paywalls in the national media, an economic upturn all around and big changes in the tech platforms which readers use to discover their news.