Press locked out of hearing on government snooping | Women presenters settle BBC tribunal claim
Plus we have your news diary for the week ahead
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Monday, 17 March.
Journalists have been locked out of a hearing which will decide whether the UK government can access encrypted data on Apple devices.
It is a case that underlines the threat to journalists and their sources posed by government surveillance powers, which operate without any journalistic oversight.
When it comes to the production of physical notebooks or hardware, police and the security services must argue their case in court if they want to access journalistic material. When it comes to digital data held by tech and telecoms companies, law officers can secretly help themselves.
The move means the corporation avoids an embarrassing three week tribunal hearing where damaging claims could have been aired.
The four had been off work on full pay since March last year when they returned to work in more junior roles.
The dispute is already understood to have cost the BBC more than £1m. The four lost their senior presenter roles following a merger of the two BBC news channels in 2023.
The BBC has admitted no wrongdoing or liability over its decision to demote four women who had all previously lodged tribunal claims over equal pay. As the payout will no doubt include non-disclosure agreements we may never now get to the bottom of the affair.
And your news diary for the week ahead includes the Online Safety Act coming into force today which is a first move to bring the likes of Google, Facebook, TikTok and others more closely under the regulation of Ofcom.
Tech giants face huge fines for only the most egregious behaviour - promoting terrorism, suicide and child abuse for instance - but it is a start towards levelling a media playing field which is still heavily sloped in their favour. Publishers, of course, have far more weighty legal responsibilities and so lose out in the battle for online advertising versus platforms who can produce content for next-to-nothing.
On Press Gazette
Two police officers stand on duty outside of The Royal Courts of Justice in London. Picture: Reuters
Press shut out of Home Office’s Snoopers’ Charter Apple encryption tribunal
“We have been given no information at all by the IPT today and are disappointed that we have not been invited to present the press case for open hearings before the tribunal,” said Bill Goodwin, the investigations editor at Computer Weekly.
Four female news presenters settle age and sex discrimination claims with BBC
Presenters Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone, Kasia Madera and Annita McVeigh launched an employment tribunal against the BBC which was due to start next week, but will now not go ahead following the settlement.
News diary 17 – 23 March: Five years since UK lockdown, new online safety rules take effect
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Newsmax paid $40m to settle Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit over election theft claims last year, filings discovered by The Independent show. Dominion's lawsuit against the network is set to go to trial next month. (The Independent)
Some 1,300 staff have been suspended at Voice of America, the US equivalent to the BBC World Service. Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia have also been impacted by a White House order to "reduce performance… to the minimum presence and function required by law". (BBC News)
The Royal Television Society has U-turned on giving a special journalism award to journalists in Gaza, the presentation of which it had "paused" after controversy over a BBC documentary. The RTS is now "discussing how" the presentation will take place. (The Independent)
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and others could be fined 10% of global turnover from today under the UK Online Safety Act if they fail to prevent the spread of content which promotes fraud, child abuse, terrorism, suicide and other harms. (Ofcom)
The US News Media Alliance has echoed calls from UK media by urging the Trump administration to protect the copyright of news publishers in its upcoming AI Action Plan. (News Media Alliance)
OpenAI has meanwhile submitted a proposal to the Trump administration suggesting its forthcoming AI policy include “a copyright strategy that promotes the freedom to learn” and which enables “American AI models’ ability to learn from copyrighted material”. (CNBC)
Google has enabled users of Gemini 2.0 Flash AI Service to remove protective watermarks from agency images. (TechCrunch)
News Media Canada chief executive Paul Deegan has warned that tariffs between the US and Canada threaten the news industry because newsprint is imported from Canada while ink heads north from the US. (Editor & Publisher)
The Civil Liberties Union for Europe has said Italy is contributing to a "democratic recession" on the continent in part through “heavy intolerance to media criticism” and “unprecedented levels of interference in public service media”. (The Guardian)
Dovid Efune, the publisher currently in negotiations to acquire The Daily Telegraph, has claimed in an interview with the Financial Times that the paper he already owns, The New York Sun, is no longer loss-making following a "Trump bump". (FT)
Newsletter platform Beehiiv has added a tool to let its publishers sell their own ad inventory, giving them a revenue stream beyond subscriptions. (Marketing Brew)
Also on Press Gazette:
Guardian, GB News and Newsquest among latest publishers to tell readers: ‘consent or pay’
Noel Clarke finishes giving evidence in Guardian libel trial
As some publishers seek full return to office, most staff favour hybrid working
News media staff share views in the great work from home debate
With launch of AI Mode Google threatens to bleed news media dry
Douglas Murray wins ‘substantial’ damages after Observer column error
Top 50 news websites in the world: The Hill and AP saw largest growth in February
Top 50 news websites in the US: Traffic falls in month following inauguration
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