Sun and Mail cut US staff | Crisis at Jewish Chronicle | Guardian pay deal
Plus UK business title Raconteur is sold, Gavin Williamson IPSO win for "Britain's grimmest village" and we have your news diary for the week ahead
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Monday, 16 September.
The Sun and Mail have both had to scale back the size of their newsrooms in the US.
The Sun was particularly hard hit by changes to the Google algorithm late last year which saw traffic plummet overnight to its US domain.
Meanwhile, around 10% of Mail Online’s US staff are believed to be on their way out the door. Traffic to DailyMail.com (the US edition) has been more stable than at the US Sun. A spokesperson indicated that publisher DMG Media is making the cuts to enable it to invest in new areas.
Over the last year the Mail has rapidly expanded its investment in audio and video and also shifted away from a wholly free to a partly paid-for online model.
Speaking at the Press Gazette Future of Media conference last week, DMG Media chief executive Rich Caccappolo said revenue and profit were expected to be up year on year for the publisher, whose financial year runs to the end of the September. Its other titles include the Mail print newspapers, New Scientist and i.
The world’s oldest Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle, is facing a fresh crisis over standards after it deleted all the stories filed by a reporter whose work has been called into question. Over the weekend four high-profile columnists resigned from the title, complaining that it has become too politically biased and also condemning secrecy around its financial backers.
In less dramatic standards news, Mail Online has removed a story reporting that Featherstone in South Staffordshire is Britain’s “grimmest village” after the area’s MP, former government minister Gavin Williamson, complained to IPSO.
Today we also report on a pay deal for journalists at The Guardian ahead of the title’s long-awaited financial results for the year to the end of March.
And UK business publisher Raconteur has been sold to US company Technology Advice in a deal which it says will help it to “take on the B2B big guns”.
Check out Press Gazette for the latest on former BBC newsreader Huw Edwards, who is sentenced today for offences relating to indecent images of children.
New from Press Gazette
Sun and Mail make journalist redundancies in US
The publisher of The Sun, where the larger redundancies were made, said it needed to “reset the strategy and resize the team to secure the long term, sustainable future for The Sun’s business in the US”.
Four columnists quit Jewish Chronicle over standards, secrecy and ‘bias’
The move follows the JC’s decision last week to delete all the articles written for it by freelance journalist Elon Perry.
Guardian journalists get 3% pay rise
The deal will apply to all Guardian News and Media staff on permanent or fixed-term contracts who are unionised via the National Union of Journalists chapel.
Mail Online removes ‘Britain’s grimmest’ village story after Gavin Williamson complaint
The story, published in April, reported that Featherstone in South Staffordshire was “covered in rubbish and dog faeces”, hemmed in by prisons and overrun by crime.
Business title Raconteur bought by US-based B2B publisher Technology Advice
Raconteur CEO Will Brookes said: “We knew that to scale Raconteur further and take on the B2B media big guns, we needed to increase our global audience reach and enhance our demand-generation capabilities.”
News diary 16 – 22 September: Huw Edwards sentenced, party conference season
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
News in brief
Police in Gibraltar say after a post-mortem exam there "continue to be no specific concerns surrounding the cause of death" of Telegraph journalist David Knowles, although they continue to investigate. (Press Gazette)
The Financial Times held its annual party on Thursday, with attendees including Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Tim Davie. Editor Roula Khalaf said "there’s good reason" to use the "fearless thinking" slogan: "Quality journalism survives and thrives in the digital and print pages of the FT." (Pictures)
Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Dopfner is nearing a deal that would see him take control of the company's media outlets with its classifieds business (valued at more than €10bn) staying with private equity firm KKR. It values the whole business at €13.5bn. (Financial Times)
Washington Post chief executive Will Lewis has told staff the last week saw its "largest number of users and page views" for the year so far. It has also begun testing a "flexible payments product" through which users can pay for seven days. (Semafor)
The Independent and domestic abuse charity Refuge have launched a campaign, 'Brick by Brick', that aims to raise £300,000 to build a safe house for families affected by abuse. Editor Geordie Greig says he wants to put the lack of such refuges "at the top of the political agenda". (The Independent)
Previously on Press Gazette
Future of Media Awards 2024: FT, Telegraph and Sky News are big winners
Mark Edmonds: Irascible yet kind, a forensic editor with huge sense of fun
Mill Media says goodbye to Substack and moves onto competitor Ghost
‘Consent or pay’: Why UK news websites are getting tough with readers over data
Former Emap pair hit £1m+ revenue for second year with free construction B2B title
BBC will ‘explore’ legal process to recoup pay from Huw Edwards if he refuses to return it
Paul Marshall pledges to fix ‘underinvestment’ in Spectator as sale goes through
Press Gazette live
The event is open to all journalists producing work targeted at a UK audience. The criteria stipulate that reports must bring important new information to light, show journalistic skill and rigour and make a difference for the better.
The awards pit the smallest local newspapers and independent podcasters against the biggest international news organisations. The great leveller is the quality of the story being told.