Telegraph grows revenue (despite £278m 'black hole') | Mail goes big on video
And the head of news at Channel 4 reveals what happened behind the scenes on the day Rishi Sunak called a surprise general election
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday 19 June.
If you have yet to get your entry in for our Future of Media Awards, worry not - the deadline has been extended, so we will still accept entries this week.
What is it about The Telegraph and its owners?
In 2007 Conrad Black was jailed after using The Telegraph as a personal cash machine (without the permission of other shareholders).
Now newly-published accounts for Telegraph Media Group reveal £278m has disappeared into what the paper itself reported was a "black hole" of loans and fees extracted by the Barclay family.
The good news is that on an operating basis, business is looking good for the Telegraph.
Last year was a tough one commercially for most news media companies, but the Telegraph reported turnover for the year up 5% to £268m. Profit was said to be up on an underlying basis by 35% to £54m.
It all suggests that once the sale of TMG is finally over the business has a bright future, provided it can finally find a good owner.
Meanwhile one lead Telegraph suitor, DMG Media, continues its enthusiastic digital expansion with the launch of a 'blockbuster' digital strategy aimed at Youtube's growing home TV audience.
Owner Lord Rothermere has clearly taken on board the key finding of this week’s Reuters Digital News Report, that off-platform video and social media are where people are finding their news these days (rather than publisher websites and apps).
Channel 4 head of news Stuart McTeer offers a behind the scenes look at what his day looked like when a surprise general election was called.
And you don’t need to have aced your NCTJ law exam to know that calling someone a “bike nonce” is legally iffy. Former footballer Joey Barton yesterday found this out the hard way, and has been ordered to pay Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine some £75,000 in damages.
New from Press Gazette
Mystery Barclay loans drive Telegraph to record £245m loss despite underlying profitability
TMG’s report does not discuss the “potential irregularities” in detail, but The Telegraph’s own story about the results reports that the financial "black hole" is the result “of loans extracted by the Barclay family which are unlikely ever to be repaid”.
Daily Mail launches blockbuster video strategy aimed at home TV viewers
DMG’s head of its new global video studio, Tony Manfred, explains the company’s TV expansion.
Joey Barton pays Jeremy Vine £75,000 to settle ‘bike nonce’ libel claim
Ex-footballer Barton has accepted his claims were "very serious" and "untrue".
News in brief
The Liberal Democrats are up to their old tricks, circulating a fake local newspaper to promote one of their candidates in Devon. (Hold The Front Page)
25 unionised staff members reportedly accepted voluntary buyouts at The Daily Beast. More job cuts for non-unionised staff expected to follow. (Press Gazette)
Washington Post proprietor Jeff Bezos issued a memo to senior editors on Tuesday after scandal enveloped new Post publisher Will Lewis. Bezos appeared to stand by Lewis, saying: “The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business… You also know our standards at The Post have always been very high. That can’t change — and it won’t.” (Financial Times)
Previously on Press Gazette
Tories have slight lead versus Labour… on BBC general election push notifications
Has Rishi Sunak already lost support of The Sun? Press general election bias tracked
From James O’Brien to Joe Rogan: Rise of news influencers and alternative voices
Online news subscriptions stagnate amid jump in numbers saying they would never pay
Trust in news up slightly in UK but remains lower than global average
US news trends 2024: Interest and trust in news slowly recovering
News avoidance at record levels as four in ten ‘worn out’ by news
Where we get our news in 2024: Social media has become the new global newsstand
Latest podcast
Podcast 72: Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed on cracking a busy news podcast market
The Telegraph’s new daily news podcast, The Daily T, is the latest entrant to an increasingly crowded audio market.
But days after the show bagged the first election trail interview with Rishi Sunak, Press Gazette spoke with Daily T hosts Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed about how they’re hoping to stand out from the competition with a right-of-centre viewpoint they feel is missing and by leaning heavily on the Telegraph newsroom.