Trump bump for media shares | Big name Mirror exits | City AM to drop Mondays
And political blog Guido Fawkes raises £60k in 24 hours to fight legal challenge
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The New York Times newsroom was likely in despair over Donald Trump's election victory this week.
But the leader writers may well have heard Champagne corks popping in the circulation department on Tuesday night.
Trump's first election in 2016 helped fuel a boom in online subscriptions to the New York Times.
In less happy news, three of the biggest names at the Mirror have been shown the door in the latest cutbacks to the newspaper.
With sales falling at 15% a year at the title (which sells just over 200,000 copies per day) we can expect more of the same in the months and years to come.
According to Ipsos, the Mirror has a monthly reach of 17 million people per month in the UK. But publisher Reach makes three quarters of its revenue from print.
Assuming (generously) that the Mirror website alone accounted for half of Reach's £127m a year digital revenues that means each Mirror digital reader is worth something like a penny per day.
Print readers, by contrast, now pay £1.60 per day for their copy (up 100% in the last four years).
I'm not saying I have any better ideas, but it is a peculiarity of newspaper publishing that the main response to declining sales (in the tabloid and regional press at least) is to charge ever more for a somewhat diminished product whilst at the same time giving it away for free.
And right-wing blog Guido Fawkes has issued its first crowdfunding appeal to fund a legal action brought by Ecotricity founder Dale Vince over reporting of his comments about the Israel/Gaza conflict. At time of going to press founder Paul Staines had already collected £60,000 in the space of just two days.
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On Press Gazette
Trump bump? News media share prices rise post Trump election
Investors at least seem to think Donald Trump will be good news for the media.
Big name Mirror columnists axed in latest cutbacks at title
Polly Hudson and Paul Routledge are among the big name contributors leaving the Mirror.
City AM proposes axing Monday print edition
Small number of jobs at risk as result of proposed print reduction.
Guido Fawkes appeals for donations to fund Dale Vince libel fight
Paul Staines says legal costs are already approaching £50,000 before the case has even got to court.
News in brief
Express political editor Sam Lister is joining the Reach title’s senior team after just over two years in the role amid a management shake-up. (Press Gazette)
Digitalbox, owner of The Daily Mash, The Tab and The Poke, has bought three sites in a bid to become an “entertainment powerhouse”. (Press Gazette)
Goalhanger said its two The Rest Is Politics livestreams on US election night, one from 8pm to 12am (UK time) and one from 5am to 9am, got a combined two million views in 18 hours plus 600,000 podcast downloads. Most of the pundits predicted the result wrong.
Lisa Nandy has announced plans to extend the culture secretary's ability to intervene in media mergers to news websites and news magazines. Currently the rules apply to broadcasters and daily, Sunday and local print newspapers. (Gov.uk)
The Washington Post has ordered staff to return to the office five days a week, starting in February for managers and June for everyone else. Will Lewis said in a memo: “I want that great office energy for us every day.” (Washingtonian)
Striking New York Times tech workers have created a website of strike-themed games inspired by NYT puzzles like Wordle and Connections so supporters can get their fix without crossing the digital picket line. (The Verge)
Press freedom organisations issued statements after Trump's election: Reporters Without Borders said it "marks a dangerous moment for American journalism and global press freedom" and urged him not to double down on his hostility towards the media while the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists said it "stands firmly in defence of a robust press that can report the facts and hold power to account freely and safely".
The Guardian began appealing for readers' financial support within hours of Donald Trump being declared the winner of the US election, with editor Katharine Viner saying the title will "stand up" to threats to democracy "but it will take brave, well-funded independent journalism". (The Guardian)
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hold a BBC World Service inquiry including "how it is paid for, the challenges it faces operating around the world, and the pressures funding the World Service from the licence fee places on other BBC services". (UK Parliament)
This week on Press Gazette:
Comscore data: Independent overtook Mail and Guardian in US in September
How Newsweek became world’s fastest-growing English language news website
Publishers hooked on Google Discover traffic risk race to the bottom
US election result leaves media pundits and pollsters with red faces… again
News organisations are forced to accept Google AI crawlers, says FT policy chief
‘Millions’ of NYT and NY Daily News stories taken by OpenAI for training data
US election: Grassroots political reporting back in fashion says Semafor’s Ben Smith
US election: Speed and fairness are key tactics for fast-growing Newsweek
Podcast 77: Election endorsements, revolting Guardian journalists and regulating AI
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford and reporter Bron Maher provide an insider take on three of the hottest issues in news media: how did the Washington Post handle its election endorsement so badly? Why are Guardian and Observer journalists set to go on strike? And what can publishers do about the onslaught of generative AI bots harvesting their content without permission?