Tom Bradby on Harry interview | Piers Morgan denies hacking knowledge
Plus latest after Al Jazeera journalist killed in Gaza
Good morning and welcome to your daily media news briefing on Monday, 18 December, brought to you today in association with Big Bite, the enterprise WordPress agency. Big Bite has launched a groundbreaking report, State of Enterprise WordPress, which reveals why worldwide brands are leveraging the power of WordPress.
ITV’s Tom Bradby was one of the big winners at last Thursday’s British Journalism Awards, taking home the Interviewer of the Year prize in a competitive category filled with the likes of Laura Kuenssberg, Amol Rajan, Henry Mance and Decca Aitkenhead.
Unusually it was for an interview with a subject with whom he has a well-known friendship – Prince Harry. Shortly after his win, Bradby spoke to Press Gazette reporter Bron Maher about that dynamic and the reaction to the interview, which made headlines around the world.
Bradby was admirably honest about how stressful preparing for these types of interview can be – even when you know the subject.
Speaking of Harry, we included our initial story about his major victory against Mirror Group Newspapers in Friday’s newsletter – but with a 386-page judgment it was impossible to digest fully right away.
We updated our story as the day rolled on and the significance of some of the findings became clear – including the judge’s view that there could be “no doubt” the editors of the time knew hacking was going on and that chief executive Sly Bailey knew but turned a blind eye. It culminated in a doorstep statement from Piers Morgan denying his involvement.
Also today we have updated our sad count of journalists killed in Gaza and Israel since 7 October as a veteran Al Jazeera cameraman lost his life on Friday. The network says it believes its staff have been deliberately targeted.
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New from Press Gazette
Interviewer of the year Tom Bradby: Harry ‘never asked me what questions I was going to ask’
“Everyone knows that I know him quite well, so that’s a stress in the equation. And obviously it’s one of the world’s more controversial subjects, so that’s another massive stress in the equation.”
Prince Harry awarded £140,000 damages as judge finds Mirror phone-hacking was ‘extensive’
Piers Morgan said in a statement outside his home on Friday: “As I’ve consistently said for many years now, I’ve never hacked a phone or told anyone else to and nobody has provided any actual evidence to prove that I did.”
This is Money founding team member Richard Browning dies aged 57
“If you’ve ever used one of This is Money’s calculators, checked the savings tables, looked at a share price, listened to the This is Money podcast, and much more, then you have Rich to thank.”
News diary 18 – 24 December: Sunak at Liaison Committee, Jimmy Lai trial begins
A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda this week, from the team at Foresight News.
Podcast 62: How publishers can sell online advertising in an awful market
The Guardian‘s senior vice president of advertising for North America, Luis Romero, spoke to Press Gazette about what he says is the toughest advertising market for news publishers since 2008.
Asked how the newspaper’s US operation going about surviving the downturn, Romero said conversations with advertisers are key – but explained times may well stay difficult for a while longer.
News in brief
Veteran Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was killed in Gaza on Friday. He is believed to be the first member of Israel's Foreign Press Association to be killed in the war, with at least 65 journalists killed in total since 7 October. (Press Gazette)
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has concluded that Samir Shah is "appointable" as BBC chair but said it was "disappointed" he "was unwilling to express a view on such fundamental principles as board level interference and political impartiality". (CMS Committee)
The BBC has responded to complaints after 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake told the NCTJ's diversity conference it was "really affecting me that I walk in and all I see is white people". The corporation said: "we work towards making our organisation as inclusive as possible". (BBC)
Google will begin phasing out third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users on 4 January with Tracking Protection, which "limits cross-site tracking by restricting website access to third-party cookies". The rollout should complete in the second half of 2024. (Google)
Foreign Secretary David Cameron has called for the release of Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai and Lai's son Sebastian has said he does not expect his father to receive a fair trial this week and he fears he will never see him again. (The Independent)
The Australian government plans to allow its competition and consumer watchdog to compel tech platforms to reveal how much they have paid to news companies in connection with the country's news media bargaining code. (The Guardian)
Previously on Press Gazette
How Newsquest and its seven AI-assisted reporters are using ChatGPT
Extinction Rebellion fails in IPSO bid against Charles Moore Telegraph climate criticism of BBC
Daily Mail gets new Australia and US editors in leadership shake-up
Covid-19 origins: A media conspiracy of silence
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